The Seacoast Academy of Music will open its doors on Monday in three new studios on the first floor of Centennial Hall, the landmark three-story, white, wood-framed building topped with a cupola at the intersection of Routes 111 and 151, across from the bandstand common.

"The walls are going up, the phones are going in, and so are the pianos," said Christine Petrucci, founder and director of the music school, in a recent interview.

Lessons in piano, voice, guitar, violin, viola, cello and drums, taught by Petrucci and several other instructors, will be augmented with workshops in music theory and appreciation, a chorus, and a series of concerts open to the public.

Plans are in the works for an eight-week piano class for adults. Petrucci hopes to offer flute, clarinet and saxophone lessons, too, and to form ensemble groups with instruments and voice.

"Our part is to provide private music instruction for anybody who wants to study an instrument," said Petrucci.

With a background in music education and business entrepreneurship, Petrucci opened Seacoast Academy of Music in September 2001 in space provided by Drake Farm Books, a used books and antiques store on Lafayette Road in North Hampton. The school has outgrown the location, said Petrucci.

"It’s been a wonderful place to be for the past few years. Bob Gross and Marcia Van Dyke have been wonderful," said Petrucci. "But we’re growing. We need more space for studios, a larger facility for recitals and concerts."

The music school brings a new lease on life to the 128-year-old building, constructed in the centennial year of 1876 at the top of North Hill, next to the United Church of Christ. Constructed to alleviate overcrowding in local schools, Centennial Hall also became the social hub of the community, hosting dances, theatrical events, parties, club meetings and fairs.

When North Hampton School was built in 1950, the school was closed. The building changed ownership several times, serving variously as a manufacturing plant, a Montessori school and an artist studio.

In 1998, the nonprofit Friends of Centennial Hall, with the help of the Seacoast Civic Dance Company (which used first floor space for dance lessons for several years and has now returned to its expanded location in Seabrook), purchased the building with the goal of reviving Centennial Hall’s legacy as a community center for the arts.

Marcy McCann, president of the Friends of Centennial Hall, described the music school’s move to the building as "a match made in heaven."

Petrucci said of the partnership, "We talked and realized our goals are mutual. We want Centennial Hall to be full of music all the time."

A particular focus will be completion of the second-floor theater/auditorium, sometimes known as the grand ballroom. Above it is another large room that was used for meetings, parties, and even had a kitchen with a dumbwaiter.

"People don’t understand what’s up there," said McCann. "If people came in, they could get a sense of what it could be for the town."

The board of directors envisions a combination of public and private uses, said McCann, such as theatrical and musical performances, reunions, wedding receptions, rotary functions and more.

To gain access to the auditorium, a $62,000 sprinkler system must be installed, $20,000 of which has been raised, and an ADA-compliant second entryway built at an estimated cost of more than $20,000.

The Seacoast Academy of Music will raise funds with the Friends. The first event will be a concert featuring an Israeli quartet on U.S. tour, scheduled for Feb. 19.

"The Friends of Centennial Hall and the Seacoast Academy of Music want to do the same thing, and that’s what makes it a wonderful combination," said Petrucci.

Currently, private music lessons in a variety of instruments are also offered in Centennial Hall by musician Gene Guth. A basement can be used as an art studio, and there is more space on the first floor for lease.

"We’re seeking a couple more tenants to fit the mission," said McCann.

"What we want to accomplish," said Petrucci, "is to bring music from arm’s length right into the heart. Music is something like breathing. This word ‘arts’ that we hear, it enhances our whole life."

For information, visit the Seacoast Academy of Music at www.seacoastacademyofmusic.org. The phone number is 964-3660.