Slat by slat, shake by shake, the “white elephant” in the courtyard of the Summerville-Dorchester Museum is being disassembled and restored in a project the museum director thought nearly impossible for a small institution like his.
“This is a unique opportunity,” said Chris Ohm as he watched James Murphy and Moyer Fountain of Wood Aesthetics begin the careful work Monday of disassembling the garden house gazebo and marking each piece so it could be returned to its original location.
“They’re the best,” Ohm said of the men and Bill Beauchene of Atrium Builders, who is serving as project manager. “These guys are really top notch and enthusiastic.”
The garden house is a bit of a historical mystery. Ohm is researching the ownership of the house, which was moved from Central Avenue to the museum in 2003, but the “why” of the house might be harder to track down.
Believed to date to 1902, the construction is elaborate and sturdy for what’s essentially a gazebo, Ohm said. The floor has five wooden layers, he said. The interior displays woodwork as beautiful as some of the homes of Summerville. The little octagonal building once included a fireplace and will again once the project is complete, he said. It’s not clear what the building was used for, except as a place to enjoy the garden.
When Ohm took over the directorship three years ago, one of the museum’s goals was to restore the little house. But the project seemed beyond the museum’s reach. The estimate 10 years ago to restore the building was $20,000, he said.
And so the house sat and sat, until earlier this year, when two excited alumni of the American College of Building Arts agreed to take on the project and Beauchene agreed to act as project manager.
“They’re doing it on our budget, which is amazing. Lucky for us, everybody’s donating a lot,” Ohm said.
The museum has enough money allotted for the first phase, mostly through donations and about $2,000 from the accommodations tax. Ohm is looking for grants and other funding to pay for the second phase.
The dismantling was well under way Monday morning. Murphy and Fountain kept the slats neatly stored together as each came down from the wall. Anything that’s less than 50 percent rotted will be kept, Murphy said. The rest will be replaced with materials from the same time period, he said.
In the first phase, the two will ensure the house is structurally sound, Murphy said. They’ll ensure the house is weatherproofed, so it can sit for a while if need be between phases, Ohm said.
In the second phase, Murphy and Fountain will begin work on the interior restoration. Based on the nailing patterns on the roof, the two will determine the original style so a roofer can replace it with the same appearance. Between the two halves of the project, a mason will rebuild the fireplace and chimney.
Murphy said they’ll probably repaint the trim, since they can make a match to the faded green paint that’s there. The cedar shakes, though, were probably left in their natural state from the beginning so they’ll be left alone, he said.
The restored garden house will be the centerpiece of the beautified courtyard that Ohm envisions for the museum’s 20th anniversary. May 2011 will mark 20 years since planning began for the museum. It opened in 1992.