Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-06-10, Page 29nit e Entertainment *Feature *Religion ®Family ®More SECTION (,OV1 1{1('11 SIGNAL-S1'Alt, Wil)NI^:SDAY, JUNE 10, 1987 PAGE IA This drawing shows how the Huru County Pioneer Museum will look by the spr- ing of 1988 (viewing the building north from Bruce Street). In the foreground is 'Ube log cabin, while in the rear is the 1856 school building; and to the right the Museum to be BY LOU -ANN HOPE Claus Breede is happy these days and • well he should be what with construction of the -new Huron County Pioneer Museum well underway and a March 1988 comple- tion date' within sight. Breede, project director at the museum, was hired in 1985 to oversee the two-phase construction -renovation project of the museum. A project, which once complete- ly finished, could run close to $3.5 million. The Huron County Pioneer Museum, located on North Street in Goderich, has been in desparate need of renovation for many years now, Breed noted. Attesting to this is the fact thatoin 1982 the building was condemned, ' declared unsafe for visitors'. In 1982, a portion of the roof collapsed which indicatedto all that things were not well. The building was condemned, declared to be unsafe. Minor things were required to be looked after before the .museum could open in 1983. These were done but the second floor. has remained closed to the public since 1983," Breede said. At that time, it became obvious that ' something had, to be done soon to save the museum. Jt was at this point that serious thought concerning renovation and reconstruction of the , museum actually • began and from which, almost three years later, emerged the project which is now being undertaken. A major study concerning the Huron County Pioneer Museum was commission- ed in 1984. From this study, Breede noted three mandates wereproposed concerning the museum. They were: (1) look at a new site for the museum in Goderich, (2) look at current site with no buildings, and (3 ) look at current site with buildings, to see what could be salvaged. The study was tabled with Huron County Counil in the fall of 1984. Breede noted that council decided the most favorable option was to keep the same site and the 1856 building and "essentially try to beef up or renovate the remainder." It was at this point that Breede was hired as project director, to oversee the entire construction and renovation project. ,Shortly after he arrived on the scene, it was decided not to retain any of the museum additions. , 'new wing. Visitors will enter th e museum at the steps, where the two buildings are joined. eady by 1988 "One of the difficulties we faced was the akin' of a rather strict set of criteria fro the collections view- point iewpoint and the fact that we wanted to maintain the huma scale of the building," Claus ,.Breede. "This was the point of departure for the ' planning process which lasted all of 1986," Breede noted. Chris Borgal, a Blyth ar- ' chitect, was hired to design the new rhu,seum, incorporating, the ,original building and designing ,a building wh*rh would fit, in with the surrounding residen- • tial area. A Cask not as easy as it sounds. DESIGN OF MUSEUM "One of the difficulties that we faced was the- meeting of a set of rather strict criteria from the collections viewpoint and the fact that we wanted to Maintain the human scale of the building given its loca- tion in a residential neighborhood," Breede noted, ` The largest item in the museum's collection is a 60 foot locomotive. Many other pieces are as large as 35 or 40 feet: In addition to considering these factors, the designers also had to consider the stan- dards for community museums establish- ed by the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture. These standards make recom- mendations on such issues as percentages or space requirements for the five main museum functions: curatorial activities, • exhibit space, building services, exhibit ' preparation and educational services. Breede noted that maintaining the new building meant incorporating it ',in with the new section so a's to blend the -two together. By t'he summer of 1986, a design was presented to County -Council. The design sees the construction of a new two-storey wing which will, aside from being the new entrance to the museum, house a number of galleries, staff offices, gift'shop,,storage room, theatre, lounge, and washroom facilities. The new wing will join the Phase I New, more structured tours to be possible Once Phase 1 of the Huron County Pioneer Museum construction• 'enovation process is completed, the museum will be open and will have temporary exhibits on display for the public to view, although final exhibition development is not ex- pected to be completed until 1990-91. With the new museum design, no longer will visitors enter the original building first. Instead they will enter a main -floor lobby which joins the two buildings together. From the registration desk, the visitors will move into a 70 seat theatre for a short orientation film. After viewing the film, the visitors will then exit to the old building (1856 school) where, on two floors the theme of the museum and the history of the county will be described in four galleries, each measuring approximately 30 feet by 60 feet. The upper and lower halls will be restored to their appearance in 1960 as Mr. Herbert Neill had developed them. From the school building, the museum visitors will move into the new building while still on the second floor, Once in the new wing, the visitors can relax in the lounge and enjoy tea and cookies supplied by the Friends of the Museum Committee. They will then proceed through the Military Gallery and on to the upper por- tion of the Agricultural Gallery with its mezzanine overlooking the exhibit of large agricultural equipment on the lower floor. Next to the Agricultural ("gallery will' be exhibits dealing with transportation as well as domestic exhibits. The visitor will then move to the first floor by way of an apartment staircase, circa 1890, and emerge onto a full scale street scape almost 100 feet long and two floors high. In this area, building fronts will consist of architectural remnants salvaged from throughout the county. Some of thee in- clude the Queen's Hotel in Brussels and re- mains of the orginal Wingham fire hall. The museum intends to add such items as shop signs, windows, key stones and other remnants over the years. Plans for all of the galleries, have yet to be finalized. original building which will eventually be ,divided into four galleries. There is also a partial basement where the two buildings • meet. The museum will also he accessible for the disabled by way of an elevator. "The pew building divides the museum into two' halves. The .north side is public space and the south half is support space ( which includes such things a§ loading • dock, temporary exhibition space, central storage area and 'a high .security .storage' area and research room)," Breede said. ,.In February of 1987, not only had the museum advertised for tenders on the con- struction work but they also received word of a $1.1 million grant from the' federal government. The museum was awarded a $1,171,300 Community 'Facilities Improvement Pro- gram ( CFIP ) grant from the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture. The remaining amount of phase one's'$2.4 million cost will core from Huron County. By the middle, of March 1987, Breede said a tender by a London construction company had been accepted. The suc- cessful bidders,' Bach -McDougall of Lon- don, were formally awarded the contracts on April 15 and by the middle of May they were in town and hard at work tearing down, the museum additions, .excavating the basement and laying the foundation for the ne,W wing. Breede noted that museum items are currently in storage in the original museum building, in a storage shed on the museum grounds and at an off -museum site location. Although construction is well underway, the' museum will remain open to the public. TWO-PHASE PROJECT With an anticipated completion date of - March 1988 for phase one of the' project, •Breede is already looking ahead to phase two of the construction -renovation project. "There are two phases to the project. The first phase involves all of the new' con struction. Phase two includes the renova- tion of the' original building and the: development of galleries in • the' new building," he said. "The schedule for th construction of the new building will probably see the comple- tion of the structure of phase one by the end of March next year: We will be in a position to open the building at that time with temporary exhibits in place and the! final exhibition development will becom- pleted two or three years after that," ' Breede said. , , • While funding for the second phase has`. not yetbeen received, Breede said he is hoping to have' word from the federal government by mid -summer, "It would save a lot of trouble is we.could' get actively into designing' the galleries now," he said. Breede added he would be grateful if the federal government would see fit to bestow - a grant in the neighborhood of $1 million for phase two. He noted half of this could be useda renovating the original building while the remaining funds could be put towards developing the galleries. He add- ed developing the galleries would not be finished for "a couple of years." The Huron County Pioneer Museum began in 1948 with the county's acquistion of the Neill collection.' The facility opened in 1951 with the purchase of the 1856 Cen- tral School Building. Mr. Herbert Neill was, the museum's first curator and. was responsible for establishing the galleries. Several additions were added to the' building in the following years. Breede noted the museum's attendance peaked in the late 1950's with about 30,000 per year. In 1982, only 12,000 people visited the museum. Once the construction -renovation pro- ject is completed, the Huron County Pioneer Museum will be open to the public on a year-round basis, unlike previous years when the musuem has operated on a seasonal basis. Claus Breede, N:'cj •ct director at the Huron Cothity Pioneer Museum, st..inds at what ,m ili be the staff entrance to the new wing of the museum (located off of Bruce Street). Phase 1 of the construction -renovation process is currently underway at the museum and is aiming for completion date of March 1988. In the background is a temporary storage shed for museum items. (hoto b Lou -Ann Ho e WILLIAM THOMAS Understanding i opposite sex is confusing I'm a little more than confused about women. Bewildered, perplexed. flustered, addled and downright babouzl- ed better describes my' working knowledge of the female phenomenon. I have a better understanding of the nuclear transmission theory of Star Wars than I do about the opposite sex. My history ofrelationship with women is quite often confused with Teddy Ken- nedy's driving record. But I try. I really do. A month ago I put a personal ad in the local newspaper: "Gentleman wh, en- joys sports, going out a lot, long walks on the beach wants to meet women who prefers staying home, cooking and clean- ing. And you know I 'never got one response! Perhaps I should have spent a few more dollars and gone for the bigger ad. But not one call. Then, just last week I• was driving through Port Colborne when I saw a•sign' that said "Women Today." I thought to myself great, a new shipment just arriv- ed. So I went in thinking I'll pick one out and take her home with me. No such luck. "'Women Today" is the women's awareness group headed up by the lovely and local Ruby Conway. Wonderful women but unfortunately too aware. They wanted nothing to do with me. It was shades of the late • seventies when I was walking past Queen's Park in Toronto and.I saw a whole acre of women carrying signs and yelling "Free' Women!. Free Women" and I pasged a note up to the front With an order for two and an offer to pay for delivery. I was given a crash course on women's libera- tion, just before I lost ,consciousness. Tough women these. There may yet be girls "made of sugar and spice and all that's nice" but they didn't attend that rally, I can assure you of that'. My confusion about women seems to be compounded with each encounter. I met a woman not long ago in the bar that used to be the Grirsby train station. That's a • natural line of progression. by the 'way, turning old train depots into bars. When you understand, how VIA Rail works and'' the fact that your tax dollars. finance it you'must take to drink. And so that woman in the bar that •was once a train station characterized herself as a "free" woman. Great: I thought. I won't have anything to do with those women who charge. But as she delivered this disputation on the freedom of the. female and the superiority of the fairer, sex 1 couldn't help but notice she was wearing a silver -studded slave bracelet. I couldn't look her in the eye alter that. Where once I- may have only been con- fused, a recent fashion trend has me ab- solutely confounded - women wearing shoulder pads. My mind, when it works, operates on a balance beam. I believe everytime a bird crushes fatally to earth, an egg hatches somewhere else on this planet. It's the teeter-totter theory of eventuality: You spread a lousy rumour about somebody today and the next time you're at a,Jay's game you take a line - drive foul ball in the back of the head off the bat of Fred McGriff. All things catch up, go around as they come around and somehow balance out in the end. So when 1 heard women were wearing shoulder pads I immediately ran to the phone, called up Wayne Gretsky and ask- ed him if he had taken to wearing a brassiere. He had not. My theory wasn't holding a water in a 42"D -cup. The puzzle prevailed. I am not blind nor unsympathetic to the plight of women in a man's world. I mean try and think of another species who, like women, have been forced to dance backwards for their entire natural life. I just can't understand why women want equality. To my mind, any women who wants to be equal to a man Tacks am- bition. Any woman who want to be Prime Minister should have more self-respect. To aspire to be a •man• after seeing what we've done with this world•is like striving to be mediocre and hoping a big break comes along that will rocket you up to incompetence. , Is it any wonder I'm confused? VOLUNTARILY SPEAKING By Shelley Hartman Are you single? Tired of your social life, or perhaps lack of it? You are not alone. In March of this year, a group of in- terested single individuals met and formed a club in answer to their specific needs. The Goderich Singles Socialite Club en- courages all single adults in Goderich and surrounding area to support and par- ticipate in the group. With an executive and social committee in place, this club is actively planning bus trips, barbecues, bowling and softball events. In fact, they had a bus trip to Lulu's May 3"0. If you are single and interested in par- ticipating with this group - they meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the Goderich Recreation Of- fice, 166 McDonald Street. Or, if you would like more information - please call 524-6462, 524-2027 or 524-5242. They would appreciate hearin„ from ou