AUBURN - An Auburn native was met with a standing ovation on Sunday after the world premiere of his documentary, “Willard Chapel: The Tiffany Treasure that Touched the World,” was shown inside the building his film sought to capture.

“I always thought it would be a great story to tell,” said director Jason Roche, who used to attend services at the chapel. “I lived through part of it and I knew it had a rich history.”

The movie showed how former students from the Auburn Theological Seminary, which originally built the chapel in 1892, fought for the abolition of slavery during the Civil War, and supported women's suffrage and prohibition.

Throughout the decades, several economic crisises threatened to see the building sold one piece at a time at auction, or to have it turned into a strip club or a liquor store.

Joan and Steve Kehoskie, of Auburn, said they were both surprised at the details Roche put in to tell the chapel's history.

“This documentary is very impressive,” Joan said. “When we were kids, there remained some of those other buildings that are now gone. We didn't even know that chapel was there until everything else was gone.”

After several close calls with destruction, the documentary portrayed how the building was finally purchased by the Community Preservation Committee in the 1990s for $500,000, after the community voiced their concerns' about the destruction of the chapel by antiques dealer Mike Dwyer.

Dwyer, who had offered to sell the building for less than half of its value, had threatened to turn it into a strip club after local agencies seemed hesitant in their decision to purchase the chapel.

After a state law was passed to prevent the sale of a building for less than its assessed value, Dwyer donated more than $1 million to make up the difference.

“This was very well done, it amazed me how much history there was and the details” said Dave Speck, a former chapel board member. “I liked seeing everything put together, seeing the whole thing. I didn't expect this many people. But it shows the community turnaround to preserve community treasures. We can't afford to lose much more than we already have. This is a world class treasure, and so few people remember there is no other Tiffany glass church in the world. Only three were made by (Louis Comfort) Tiffany, and this is the only one left.”

That was why Roche put in nearly four years worth of work shooting and editing more than 92 hours worth of film into the two-hour long DVD he hoped to release by Thanksgiving.

“If people remember this place and remember what we got, then they are more likely to continue supporting it in the future,” he said.

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net