Using a 96 year-old building as a museum can come with some challenges, and the Oliver Museum building is no exception. Old windows let in drafts, heat, and cold year-round and exterior wood degrades in the weather. But now those problems may be solved thanks to a conservation project newly completed by the ODHS.
The Museum windows are looking as good as new after the large-scale project ended July 24th. Over the last two months, the 1924-era windows were carefully restored by Gerry Plante’s Carpentry Ltd., with the old wood being repaired, sanded and repainted, and cracked panes being replaced. The project also added new putty and weather stripping to help to regulate inside temperatures.
The restoration started one year ago and was funded by a $20,000 grant from Heritage BC’s Heritage Legacy Fund along with a generous donation from the late Carolyn Cope. The completed project preserves original material on the heritage-designated building, Oliver’s former BC Police Station, according to nationally-recognized conservation standards. It also creates a better environment for both artifacts and people, helping the ODHS to better serve Oliver and its surrounding community with a temperature-stabilized and more comfortable Museum building.
This project was funded in part by Heritage BC through the Heritage Legacy Fund. We gratefully acknowledge their support.
See the results of the restoration below:
About the Heritage Legacy Fund:
The Heritage Legacy Fund (HLF) was established in 2003 by an agreement of the provincial government of British Columbia. With the termination of the BC Heritage Trust at the time, HLF was designed to take over the community support function, specifically to provide grants for the heritage sector of British Columbia. The province endowed the project with an initial gift of $5 million, which is held by the Vancouver Foundation. Today, Heritage BC is the administrator of the grants fund. For more information, contact Laura Saretsky, Heritage BC’s Heritage Program Manager at 778-995-7243.