If it isn’t the most frequently asked question in Berks County, it must certainly rank up on the list about as high as the landmark itself atop Mount Penn:
When will the Pagoda reopen to the public?
Alexa Freyman, president of the Foundation for the Reading Pagoda, has been hearing that question and even asked it herself a time or two.
Now, she has an answer.
The first guided Pagoda walkthrough will be held next Sunday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Because of occupancy limitations, admission to the Pagoda will be by ticket, available for $3 each at the Pagoda website www.readingpagoda.com/visit. Tours will run at half-hour intervals. All proceeds will go for Pagoda maintenance and restoration.
“We have been in the process of finalizing a few dates for what we call the Pagoda walkthrough,” she said while leading the Reading Eagle on a tour through the renovated Pagoda. “It’s totally empty. The public’s champing at the bit to get inside, so we want to welcome people a few days in September and October.”
The city of Reading handed over the keys to the foundation in June following over a year of repairs and renovations to the structure built by quarryman William Abbott Witman in 1908 and turned over to the city in 1911.
Closed to the public during COVID-19 in 2020, the Pagoda didn’t reopen following a 2021 city assessment of the building and the repairs necessary to bring the electrical, HVAC, plumbing and foundation work up to date, said Freyman, 35, a Cumru Township resident who publishes local history stories on her Berksiana social media outlets.
“That’s when they figured out they needed $4.8 million in interior work, and the walls still need to be done, and that’s going to be $7 to $10 million, so they didn’t see a point in reopening it when they knew it was going to need so much work,” she said.
The building restoration was funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in March 2021.
“It’s going to be a struggle to fund the repairs to the walls,” Freyman said.
A new LED installation on the exterior of the building allows the Pagoda lights to shine in different colors for different occasions in Reading.
The Pagoda is illuminated in red, yellow and green — the Pan-African colors representing unity, pride and heritage — in honor of Black History Month. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
The traditional Christmas Eve flashing lights were brought back last year as the Pagoda blinked from red to green, announcing Santa’s arrival.
Freyman envisions a soft opening to the Pagoda on weekends and expects to be booking events there in 2027.
The goal of the foundation’s business plan is to partner with professionals to help run a cafe and event space, now slated for the second floor.
“We want the Pagoda to be the quintessential Reading experience,” Freyman said.
Because the Pagoda is now empty following the renovations, the foundation has essentially a clean slate to work with.
“When you walk in, it’s going to be kind of William Abbott Witman’s hotel lobby lounge,” Freyman said. “If this were a resort and had worked out with Witman, that would have been the main gathering lounge space. So the whole place will be furnished in period-appropriate furniture, which is arts and crafts, mission style.”
The plans for the upper floors include office space for the cafe managers and event planners, a conference room and a library of local books.
The former museum will not be brought back, Freyman said.
“As much as people liked the museum, we’re going completely new in here,” she said. “We want to do a model train exhibit all through here as an ode to the railroad, Reading history, but we might have to do some construction work in there to make that feasible.”
The top-floor observation deck will remain unchanged.
“People want to come up and see the view and enjoy the bell,” Freyman said after negotiating the 87 steps to the top.
One vestige of a previous Pagoda renovation remains and is on display in the lobby — a third casting of a shachihoko, a mythical Japanese creature that protects the building upon which it sits.
Two of the creatures that were cast and gilded in gold in the early 1970s by artist Bessie Bast of Kutztown were placed atop the Pagoda in 1975.
The third had remained with the artist and donated to the Pagoda after her passing at age 92 in 2012.
The casting had been stored in the basement but was brought back after a cleaning and powder coating donated by Richard Schuster.
“People can take photos with it,” Freyman said. “It’s just another cool thing to see because you can’t get close to the ones on the top of the building. So it’s nice to be able to look at it and touch it and see its design.”
Alexa Freyman, president of the Foundation for the Reading Pagoda, with a third cast of a shachihoko, a mythical Japanese creature that protects the building upon which it sits. The creatures were cast in the early 1970s by artist Bess Bast of Kutztown and placed atop the Pagoda in 1975. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
Also on display in the lobby area is a mural painted by Reading artist Theron Cook on two of the columns, depicting Japanese motifs along with cherry blossoms spreading out over the ceiling.
Much work on the area around the Pagoda still remains to be done, particularly the retaining walls and the former garden areas.
“Long term, I would love to get all that down there on the hillside cleared out again because that used to be the gardens,” Freyman said. “If at some point things go well in the next few years and we can financially sustain ourselves and put some money in the bank, we can work on more projects. That is one I definitely would love to tackle.”
To keep updated on the Pagoda’s reopening, check readingpagoda.com, where Pagoda merchandise is also available.