Restoration work planned for Bruce County museum buildings

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Bruce County council has approved restoration work to two of the buildings at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton.

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At its meeting on Thursday, council approved directing the funds required to complete the work to the museum’s 1878 schoolhouse as well as the log cabin on the site.

“Just like any other organization, we have capital asset management plans and we are making sure the buildings are taken care of,” Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre Director and Curator Cathy McGirr.

Council was first informed of the failures to the 1878 schoolhouse in June 2023, it said in a report from McGirr on Thursday.

At that time a temporary barrier was erected at the front of the building to ensure the safety of the public.

Further assessments were completed to understand the cause of the failures and to understand the scope of the work required. A detailed phased work plan and project estimate was used to project the 2024 capital project of $250,000, the report said.

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McGirr said that along with wood cladding, there was some brickwork and other features that needed to be addressed. With the area fenced off, some immediate work was done to stabilize some pieces of the building that were areas of concerns.

Just over $36,000 from the budget has already been used to complete the project scoping and tenders early in 2024, leaving a balance of just under $230,000 to complete the work, McGirr’s report to council stated.

The work was tendered and the low bid came in at $320,000, leaving the county with a budget shortfall of just over $106,000.

On Thursday, county council directed that the additional funds required to complete the work and any minor adjustments not yet identified, be financed from the tax stabilization reserve. Council also directed that the tender be awarded to the low bidder, Colonial Building Restorations.

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McGirr said that once the awarding of the tender is finished, they will have a better idea of a timeline as to when the work will be completed. During the restoration, programming inside the museum will not be impacted, but use of the grounds out front of the building will be limited, McGirr noted.

“We will do that work as soon as the tender is accepted and there will be a project plan in place to complete work on the 1878 schoolhouse,” McGirr said.

The 1878 Southampton school stands as the largest and most iconic artifact at the museum. The structure served as the original museum when it opened in 1955 and today is home to the Bruce Power theatre, offices, the archives and research room and other spaces.

The log home, which will also undergo some restoration work, was built in Kinloss Township around 1850, and was moved to the grounds of the museum in 1958 after being purchased by the Women’s Institutes of County, according to the museum’s website. The log cabin sits next to the 1875 S.S. No. 10 Amabel log schoolhouse, which was purchased as a centennial project of Bruce County’s elementary school teachers in 1967 and reconstructed at the museum. Both the log cabin and log schoolhouse have undergone restoration work over the years, McGirr said.

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