About the Discover Portsmouth Center

The Discover Portsmouth Center as a “one stop” central gateway to the historical, cultural and artistic sites and venues all around greater Portsmouth.

Background

In March 2007, interested citizens met in a “Portsmouth Listens” session and reached consensus on the idea of turning two historic buildings that formerly housed the Portsmouth Public Library into a public arts and history information and interpretive cultural center. In May 2007 the Portsmouth Historical Society filed a response to the City’s RFP for the re-use of that complex and in August 2007 participated in a work session with the Mayor, City Manager and City Council to frame the project for the negotiation of a lease.

In December 2007, the City Council endorsed the Portsmouth Historical Society’s heritage tourism gateway, rather than allow a prime location at the corner of Middle and Islington Streets to sit empty, or remove the historic buildings from public access. On January 10, 2008, the Portsmouth Historical Society took over as steward of the site, with a three-year lease on the property to demonstrate the effectiveness of maintaining a centralized source for visitors and residents to learn about Portsmouth’s history, cultural programming and ever-changing calendar of events and collaborative office space for some of those non-profit organizations.

The Portsmouth Historical Society’s staff, Trustees and volunteers worked over the winter to prepare to open for the 2008 season, Memorial Day through October 31st, that parallels the visitor season for the Society’s John Paul Jones House Museum across the street. New paint, carpet and lighting was installed throughout with the help of the Portsmouth Lions Club and Portsmouth Rotary volunteers.

Facility

The Academy building was transformed into galleries for rotating exhibits. In the summer of 2008 these included “Russell Cheney: A New England Master” (an exhibit jointly presented in the Society’s space and at the Portsmouth Athenaeum) and Peter Randall’s photography exhibit (traveling from the New Hampshire Historical Society), “New Hampshire Then & Now” – a collection of old and new views from around the entire state of New Hampshire.

In the central, 1976 connector, an information desk and museum shop have replaced the old circulation desk. Seven four-color, 4’ x 8’ information panels on each of Portsmouth’s historic houses, museums, landmarks and performance venues fill the walls and center kiosks. In 2008 another exhibit of paintings by Harry S. Harlow, “The Doorways of Portsmouth” was also displayed in this space.

The Center’s theater hosts continuous showings of “Welcome to Historic Portsmouth” an introductory film on Portsmouth’s 400 years of history that was produced for the Society by Atlantic Media Productions with additional support from the New Hampshire Charitable Fund, Piscataqua Region. The film, which premiered in February when the Society announced that Portsmouth was selected as a National Trust for Historic Preservation 2008 Dozen Distinctive Destinations® has since earned Atlantic Media both a Silver Telly Award and a Videographer Award of Excellence.

Next Steps

Under the terms of the agreement with the City, the Society is working with architectural, engineering and fabrication specialists — following historic preservation guidelines — to identify and fix short-term problems within the old buildings and implement new plans with partners. In the course of that work the Society is also developing estimates and ideas for long-term improvements and future creative uses for the Center. Concurrently the Trustees are conducting a fundraising feasibility study to assess the level of additional financial support available to complete the conversion of the building. The Society anticipates a need to raise $500,000 over the next two years to make repairs and basic renovations to the buildings and to meet operating costs.