We are starting the last phase of Centennial Hall’s restoration: a three-story addition that will finally open every floor of this building to everyone.
There is a room at the top of our stairs that has been the center of this town since 1876.
Harvest suppers. Masquerade balls. Graduations. Talkie movies. Presidential candidate forums. Red Cross clinics. A benefit for victims of the 1936 flood. Today it is bridge club, music lessons and theater productions. Our records list more than ninety different uses of this building across a century and a half.
In June 2024, after years of work, we reopened the second-floor ballroom.
And a lot of our neighbors still cannot get to it.
What we are building
The final phase of this restoration is a three-story addition. It will hold a three-stop elevator serving the basement, the first floor and the second floor, along with ADA-compliant bathrooms on the first and second floors. It replaces an existing addition that will come down.
Until it is built, the ballroom and the basement are reachable only by stairs.
“We spent twenty-eight years making sure this building would still be standing,” says Marcy McCann, President of the Board of Directors. “Then we opened the ballroom in 2024 and watched people stand at the bottom of that staircase who could not come up. This is the last thing standing between Centennial Hall and the whole community it was built for. Everyone should get to the top.”
This past March, North Hampton voters approved a $50,000 warrant article for accessibility upgrades at the Hall, by a margin of more than two to one. That vote is what started this.
What it costs, and why
We have heard some confusion about the price, so let us be clear about it.
The elevator is approximately $350,000. The full addition is approximately $3,000,000.
The difference is the building the elevator goes in. An elevator needs a shaft, a foundation, a roof and three floors to stop at, and none of those exist at Centennial Hall today.
The $3 million covers demolition of the existing addition, site work and excavation, foundation and masonry, framing, roof, windows and doors, ADA-compliant bathrooms on the first and second floors, insulation, drywall, flooring and paint, and complete plumbing, HVAC, fire protection, electrical and fire alarm systems.
Dennis Mires P.A. Architects produced the conceptual drawings. Milestone Construction created the project budget, based on typical 2026 commercial construction costs.
“An elevator cannot be dropped into a building like this,” McCann says. “What we are building is the structure that makes the elevator possible, and the accessible bathrooms that make the rest of the building usable by everyone who comes through the door.”
Why it matters now
Rentals at the Hall are up more than 100 percent. But two of our three active floors are reachable only by stairs. That limits who can use this building, and it limits what the Hall can earn to sustain itself. Both of those things come down to the same problem.
How this building got here
The Friends of Centennial Hall bought this building in 1998, after alumna Louise (Booker) Goss rallied the community against its demolition. In 2008 we made the final payment and burned the mortgage at a public celebration.
Since then: a new copper and slate roof. Forty-four original windows restored. A sprinkler system through the whole building. The ballroom reopened in 2024. That work has been supported by four grants from New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, by town appropriations, and by private donors like you.
One phase left.
How you can help
Give. Donations are tax-deductible and applied entirely to the restoration of the building.
Tell us your story. If there is something here you stopped coming to, or never got to, because of the stairs, we would like to hear about it. “Those stories make this case better than we can,” McCann says.
Rent the Hall. Every event here helps fund the work.
To give, to share a story, or to learn more, email info@centennialhall.org.