Whitcomb Lee Conservatory (Crete, Nebraska)

 theatre  Add category

Whitcomb Conservatory/Lee Memorial Chapel, a unique five-sided structure, is significant architecturally on state and national levels as an unusual combination of the Prairie School and Arts and Crafts architectural movements. This building was the product of Dean and Dean, Architects, a prestigious Chicago company owned by 19th century Doane College alumni George and Arthur Dean. Their firm played an active role in shaping the nation's Prairie School architectural theory and national movement led by nationally known architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan.

Whitcomb Conservatory, commonly known as the "Con," is the only non-domestic Prairie School structure in Nebraska. The building is flanked by two other historic buildings, Gaylord Hall (1884) and Boswell Observatory (1883). The three structures are listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the "Doane College Historic District." For 65 years, the Conservatory served dual purposes as a chapel and music conservatory, hence the combination name. All students attended weekly "required chapel" services and regular mandatory convocations in the auditorium space in the center of the structure. Concerts and theatre productions were held there, and music department offices and practice rooms were located in the appendages protruding from the pure pentagon-shaped plan. Whitcomb Conservatory/Lee Memorial Chapel is named for two major donors to the original building project, George F. Lee of Otoe County, Nebraska, and Henry Whitcomb of Worcester, Massachusetts. The building, vacated in 1971, was used for storage. Now, after a 2004 $3 million dollar renovation, it serves as the home of the Doane College Theatre Department.