Downtown Medford will have a lot to celebrate in 2024 during the final push to put the magic back into the 1930 Holly Theatre.

From floor to ceiling in the cavernous 1,025-seat auditorium, a spider web of scaffolding creates a dizzying matrix that allows workers to tackle the many little details needed to faithfully recreate a theater built at the advent of talking movies.

“This is a restoration, not a renovation,” said Shelley Austin, executive director of Jefferson Live!, the organization behind the effort. “We have to re-create it exactly as it was.”

Outlier Construction has erected the scaffolding that calls to mind an Escher drawing in order to complete the $13 million restoration of the auditorium at the corner of Holly and Sixth streets downtown.

“We’ve raised enough to start the final phase of construction,” Austin said. “We’ll open in the fall. That’s what we’re hoping.”

More fundraising is needed to get the project over the finish line, but Austin said she’s confident that locals will feel inspired when they see the auditorium take shape.

More than 3,000 donors have already helped with the Holly restoration. For more information or to tour the theater, go to https://www.hollytheatre.org/.

With a year to go before a possible opening, the question on a lot of people’s minds is who will be the opening act, Austin said.

She said the act hasn’t been announced yet, but the Holly expects to host up 30 live performances a year and will be available for rentals or other events at other times.

Many of the acts that perform at the Cascade Theater in Redding, also operated by Jefferson Live!, will be booked to perform at the Holly.

One-third has been raised of the $1 million needed for fixtures such as lighting and other equipment that will be added once construction is completed.

Since the project began 12 years, a lot of behind-the-scenes work has gone into finding or recreating columns and other unique features in the theater, designed to offer a whimsical tableau that mimics a gondola ride through the canals of Venice, Italy.

The time needed to restore the Holly is typical for projects of this kind, according to Austin, noting that the pandemic slowed things down somewhat.

According to the League of Historic American Theaters, there are nine theaters in Oregon that are members of its organization. These theaters, which have either been restored or are going to be restored, date from about 1910 to 1940. Once opened, the Holly will have the largest seating capacity of any historic theater in Oregon, which puts it in the sweet spot for performance venues.

“A lot of acts won’t look at you if you don’t have 1,000 seats,” Austin said.

The Holly was one of five movie palaces in Medford during the heyday of early cinema.

Restoring a theater that was in a dilapidated state with many of its unique features lost or broken has been a challenge.

“This building was condemned by the city, but it will be in perfect repair,” Austin said.

A small patch of carpeting on an out-of-the-way staircase allowed for the re-creation of custom carpeting that has a vivid water-inspired theme.

Original drinking fountains, known as Barb’s Bubblers, have been found and cleaned up and will be put back into service. They are named after donor Barbara Haddon.

A “conversational urinal,” which allows two men to talk face-to-face while doing their business is already in operation in one of the toilets.

Bob Russell, former owner of the Butte Creek Mill in Eagle Point, found some of the decorative lighting from the Holly in storage.

Inside the auditorium, the walls were covered with a material that enhanced the acoustics, an important feature at a time when there was live musical accompaniment for silent movies, and at a time when some thought “talkies” might just be a fad.

Austin said the same sort of acoustical wall covering, known as Homasote, is still being made and will be placed back on the walls.

“We’re doing everything we can to preserve the sound quality of the Holly,” she said.

While every effort has been made to recreate a faithful historic restoration, some newer elements have been installed, including modern heating and air-conditioning systems, an elevator and creating a delivery door at the back of the stage.

Austin said five years of negotiations were required to obtain a rear parking and delivery area behind the auditorium.

Other structural elements have been added to the theater, including replacing wood riggings for projection lights with a massive steel structure. Forty-foot holes were drilled into bedrock to provide structural support around the stage.

The stage has been extended to provide more space for performances, and a better backstage area has been provided for touring artists.

State Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, toured the Holly recently.

“It’s so impressive the lengths they are going to restore it,” he said. “They deserve to be proud. I love the way they’ve tracked down fixtures and even re-created the original carpeting.”

Despite the pandemic slowing the Holly restoration down, Golden said he thinks the theater is getting close.

“They seem to be down to the 5- or 10-yard line,” he said.

Golden, who has lived in the valley for 50 years, remembers going to the Holly when it was still open, though he recalls the building had seen better days even back then.

“I’m really looking forward to the opening there,” he said.