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I am excited to write and report to you that, thanks to amazingly generous support, Bellingrath Gardens & Home has completed its fundraising campaign to raise $15,000 for the Summer House restoration! Building off of the tremendous support from The Hearin-Chandler Foundation, we embarked in earnest nearly two years ago on an effort that would see this historic, 1930s structure, brought back to life – a project that will speak to the level of quality and attention-to-detail that we will be applying to all future work done to bring our new master plan to life. With further crucial support from the Steven G. Crawford Estate, the A.S. Mitchell Foundation, and Mrs. Lulu Crawford, we then appealed for support from you, our members and the broader public. And boy, did you answer! With $15,000 needed, we were able to reach, and even exceed, our goal. From gifts of $10 to ones of $1,000 or more, we are excited to thank over 100 donors who helped us push past our goal.
As of this writing, we are rapidly making progress on the Summer House restoration. Despite being challenged due to some price escalations in recent months, our work to restore this historic, 1930s, original garden structure is underway. There are three major components of this project that are underway.
A. The cast iron – An architectural and engineering review of the Summer House determined that the cast iron columns should no longer solely support the roof due to their age and strength. As such, new steel structural support columns will be installed, and they will bear the entire load of the roof. As we all know that the cast iron components of the Summer House are the pièce de résistance, these new columns will be placed as unobstructively as possible. The cast iron pieces are now relocated to the restoration company where work is underway.
B. The timber frame and roof boards — Assembly of the timber frame roof, which has been received by BGH from the manufacturer, is about to commence. It will co-occur with installation of the structural steel columns. Roof boards, both interior and exterior, and the cupola will be constructed after the timber frame is secured to the columns.
C. The copper roof – Although copper prices have increased significantly over the last few months, we will be adhering to bringing this important detail forward for this structure. This will be the final portion of construction to be performed.
Today, significant progress on the Summer House is being had. During this phase of the project, the Summer House appears to have disappeared from BGH. But, rest assured in knowing that this complicated, but critical, project is proceeding, and BGH will see it through to its appropriate conclusion. When finished, expect to see a newly refreshed and welcoming historic structure that shelters visitors from the sun and rain. An ensemble of comfortable garden furniture will be added, and the space will be both new and old, as when it was first built.
Two other major projects that we have started include the Bayou Boardwalk and the Magnolia Café serving line.
1. Ever since I arrived at Bellingrath nearly five years ago, the appearance of the serving line for the Magnolia Café has been one that I have wanted to address. Its décor felt like a callback to the 1970s, and not in a good way! This year, we have started work to refresh this area, complementing the hard work that our Café team, now being led by our new Café Manager, Gale Moore, has done in making stellar improvements to our food offerings and quality. When you next come to visit the Café, you will quickly notice the sleek glass-and-metal frame “sneeze guard,” which allows you to observe the food without having to duck or stand on your toes to speak with the Café staff! Over the next several weeks, Harold’s maintenance team will be working to restyle the wooden serving counters through new decorative treatments and paint. We think you’ll really like the new look, certainly enough that you won’t be thinking that you’ve entered a 1970s Stuckey’s roadside café while ordering food from BGH!
2. Lastly, over the past three years, the Dwight Harrigan Exxon/Mobil Bayou Boardwalk has increasingly shown its age. Despite being built only 30 years ago, side-rail boards were warping or rotting, a few of the pilings had settled considerably, and many of the deck boards were loose. Working with a local contractor, Bellingrath invested over $18,500 to address all of these issues earlier this year, rehabilitating 75% of the Boardwalk’s 1/4-mile length. We will be handling the remaining 25% in the upcoming fiscal year.
In addition to these above major projects, Bellingrath Gardens & Home continues to invest in critical upgrades to facilities, infrastructure, and equipment. Over the past year’s worth of e-newsletter columns, I’ve written about projects ranging from cleaning up our boneyard/junkyard to converting our greenhouse heating system from a 60+ year-old boiler to modern forced-air heaters to replacing worn out tractors and utility carts. Lots of things on that list are ones that you will likely never see or don’t come to Bellingrath to see. When you next visit, please observe the work that the BGH Maintenance Department, led by Harold Fischer, our new Maintenance Manager, is doing in beginning to catch up on long-deferred painting needs. We hope you’ll notice our colorful new entrance and also several of the railings, fences, and cast iron pieces that have been painted with our new neutral color at BGH – Urbane Bronze, the Sherwin-Williams 2021 Color of the Year. (That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about an individual paint color, eh?! LOL)
Coming soon, we’ll be telling you about exciting updates to the BGH visitor center and also to the Magnolia Room! Come out and see the progress. We thank you for your membership and support!