A historic building, home to an artist cooperative, needs your help. Embodying history and the arts, old Germania Hall in downtown Pensacola has housed Quayside Art Gallery for over thirty years. During Gallery Nights and artist receptions, laughter and friendship ebb and flow through the open doors of the old firehouse, along with patrons, artists, friends, and those who are simply art curious. The well-lighted gallery casts its warm glow into the night the way its cultural influence extends into this Northwest Florida city with more than 450 years of recorded history. Although operating as a small business called Pensacola Artists, Inc., the artists at Quayside Art Gallery are more like family: we celebrate our new members yearly with a New Member Show in January, and we shed tears when an artist passes. Germania Hall is our home, and we want to keep it around for many more decades.

But aging buildings need loving care, attention, and repair when time takes its toll, and this building is no exception. Built in 1873, the building is now over 140 years old. Located at 17 East Zarragossa Street, it has a long and colorful history. In the late 1800s, it housed the Germania Steam Fire Engine and Hose Company.

After a variety of owners and businesses, from a cigar factory, to a sign shop, and possibly a brothel, Pensacola Artists, Inc., a cooperative of nearly 100 local artists, purchased the building and made extensive renovations. Additional renovations were made after hurricane Ivan. But now a decade later, the building is overdue for both structural and cosmetic surgery.

We, the artists at Quayside, are working to maintain the gallery as a small business, but like most small businesses, we don’t have $150,000 of spare money to make repairs on a 140-year-old building. Last year, we raised money locally to replace our windows with wind-resistant ones that meet building codes. Our east wall, however, has developed cracks and is pulling slowly away from the rest of the building. Although failure is not imminent, we need to make repairs before the cost of the repairs escalates, so we are broadening our fund raising.

We are asking you to help us preserve a landmark of the past in a historic U.S. city. Please consider supporting our GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the preservation of Germania Hall, home to our art community.

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