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Martinsburg Journal Saturday, September 5, 1998 - Abridged
by Ryan Feeney
A ROYAL HELPING HAND
Russian-born philanthropist looks to aid Roundhouse
MARTINSBURG - A Russian-born philanthropist with far reaching connections wants to help locals salvage a piece of American history by persuading a world-famous ballet company to perform in this small city. It’s sure to bring Martinsburg – and its historic B&O Roundhouse – nationwide attention, said the Baroness Rida Von Luelsdorff, a descendent of Russian aristocrats now living in Middleburg, VA.
She is assisting the newly appointed Roundhouse Center Study Group to preserve the Roundhouse by helping to publicize it and coordinate fund-raisers for the group’s campaign to save it.She was introduced to members of the group by Clinton Davis, a Shepherd College official who works with professionals in former eastern block nations and Soviet republics. While visiting her home one day, he mentioned local efforts to restore the Roundhouse and she was engrossed, Davis said. One of her interest is preserving historical sites.
The group and Von Luelsdorff, lent new hope to saving the historical 1866 Roundhouse. This summer, the Martinsburg City Council voted not to buy it and the two remaining structures near it at Caperton Station. Its owner, railroad giant CSX Corp., said it will eventually level them if they are not purchased.Ultimately, the group hopes to buy the Roundhouse, two nearby buildings and the 9.7 acres they lie on and fortify the structure’s roofs in case of heavy snows. Once that’s done, they would map out plans for its future, group members said.
Von Luelsdorff and about 20 people toured the Roundhouse Friday morning. They followed her as she traveled down a trail overgrown with weeds and through the Roundhouse’s metal door.
At a lunch later at the Boomtown Inn Restaurant, Von Luelsdorff, with a slight British accent, told the group the structure needs to be preserved. “I thing it is your heritage, and I think history has been built and you should save it,” said Von Luelsdorff, who as a young girl spent six years in a Soviet prison, during Josef Stalin’s reign, fled to China, then was later imprisoned for another six years, by communists led by Mao Tse Tung. After fleeing China, she lived on a ship for six years because no country would accept her as a Russian refugee. She finally was accepted into Paraguay, then moved to Argentina before coming to the United States. Illiterate and uneducated, she put herself through college and graduated from Georgetown University in Washington.
At the luncheon, she proposed the city host the Kirov Ballet, a world-famous ballet company based in St. Petersburg, Russia, to perform, Russian composer Peter Ilich Tchaiskovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” in Martinsburg in October. She would call the company’s ballet master, a friend of hers and ask him to come, she said. It would bring nationwide attention to the Roundhouse, she said. Von Luelsdorff already hosted the ballet once in Middleburg.
“The performance isn’t as much a fund-raiser, but to kick off a campaign to start saving the Roundhouse. You need a good powerful event: I can’t thing of a better way to do it than to have the Kirov Ballet in Martinsburg,” said CEM Martin, a local attorney and former West Virginia delegate. He is also a member of the Roundhouse Center Study Group.Originally, CSX’s price tag for the buildings and land was $340,000. But that price has been lowered to $150,000, said Delegate Vicki Douglas, D-Berkeley, also a member of the Study Group. CSX representatives couldn’t confirm or deny the drop in price by press time.
NOTE: The Kirov Ballet performance was successfully hosted and attended in Berkeley County, raising awareness and funds for the Roundhouse project.
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