Center Meeting House

The interior plastering is complete as is the paint job - a primer coat and two finish coats.  The scaffolding has been removed.

Wouldn't you just love to be the sponsor of one of the fourteen remaining pews?  Call Doug at 763-3461 for information. 

Today is August 10, 2010.  Remarkable progress is being made.

All the new clapboards are now installed.  Work is expected to begin this week on the east side of the building, or the back, with scraping and cleaning prior to a new paint job.  This is the one side of the building where we will be doing everything possible to restore the old clapboards and replace as few as possible.  It is costly and difficult to restore these clapboards because of the regulations associated with the removal of paint that contains lead and its safe disposal.

In the interior, the final coat of paint is now on and the scaffolding is in the process of being removed.  This will take about two days.

Work is coming along nicely on the exterior clapboarding.  As of August 3, 2010 the side of the building is nearing completion and the front has been started.  Yesterday, there were no clapboards on the front of the building and there were only a few feet at the bottom completed on the North side.

Inside the building, the plaster has been primed and it has received the first coat of finish paint.  North Branch is hoping that the final coat will be applied this week and that by week's end the scaffolding inside the building will be gone.

The front door frames have been mechanically stripped of old paint and it is beautiful to see the detail that is now exposed to view.

The fans for over the windows are being fabricated as are the shutters.  Shutters are not likely to be ready for twelve weeks, meaning that we might have an essential completion, sans shutters!

On the evening of August 4th we had our Board of Directors meeting and as we finished we looked out and saw the the exterior lighting was on.  Can you imagine how the building will look when it is completed with all the new clapboards on and painted?

This morning, August 5, 2010, you can see the work continuing to get the clapboards installed on the front, West, face of the building.  The North side is essentially fully clapboarded.  Corner pieces will still have to been cleaned and prepared before the painting process begins.

The clapboards are off the front of the Meeting House.  And if you look carefully you will notice that the front doors are missing too.  (Oh no!  The dreaded plywood is back!)  The plywood is to replace the doors that are being hand stripped in preparation for repainting and other restoration. 

The brown wood which the new and/or restored boards will be nailed to actually offer a pleasing color and one might be tempted to think in terms of keeping the building this warm color.  But the traditional white color on fresh new boards is what we have all been yearning for over the past five years of this project.

It is also important to note that the project cost is $1.4 million and the fundraising total is currently $1.2 million.  So keep us in mind as you think about support for this amazing project.  I will be surprised if this restoration doesn't last for a hundred years.  If it doesn't, I'll come back and lead another fundraising effort to keep this Treasure of Newbury alive and well. 

And I think that it is safe to say that everyone who has been associated with the Center Meeting House would say the same thing, if asked!