The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Fixer-upper opportunity
Gordon Hall requires renovations to roof and porch
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: June 19, 2008
This week Gordon Hall's porch is getting a bit of a face lift.
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Members of the Dexter Area Historical Society and Museum are out tearing up the deck of Judge Dexter's old porch in an effort to bring the threshold up to snuff for upcoming events.
"We have weddings scheduled and we have to have this done soon," Paul Bishop said Monday while working on pulling up planks that had deteriorated with the passage of time.
"We started ripping it up last Saturday, since we have professionals coming in to put in all new decking," Bishop said.
The job has cost more than $5,000 thus far, not including time and work volunteered by Bishop and Gilbert Campbell, who was also out prepping the Gordon Hall porch for the major work ahead, and other members of the DAHS&M.
"We hope to have the work done in time for a Dexter tour that is coming up," Bishop said.
The tour will take visitors on a circuit through the Dexter Area Historical Museum, St. Joseph Catholic Church, some fine community kept house gardens in the area and, of course, Gordon Hall itself, which has changed quite a bit on the interior over the past year.
"This is where the bride will change and do the things that brides do," Bishop said, indicating a former servant's room that is now a white and pink room with comfortable sofa and chairs.
Other rooms in the house have been furnished with fine furniture and comforts, and the main rooms have chairs and other room accessories, such as candelabras and chalices above the fireplace.
Along with the porch, it's all for the upcoming weddings, the first of which is scheduled for June 28.
But there's more work to do.
A roof above your head
As Bishop and Campbell worked Monday, both men remarked that it will all be for naught if the next large-scale portion of the project doesn't come to fruition.
"We've got to save the roof to save the house," Bishop said.
The DAHS&M will be offering supporters the chance to buy a shingle for $30 or a square, 10 square feet of shingles, for $3,100 in the new fund-raising effort dubbed "Buy a shingle, buy a square."
"We're going to reach out to the service clubs and through them the community," Bishop said of the society's attempt at raising the $125,000 that will be needed for the work and materials that Roofing Technology Associates LTD of Livonia will use on the project.
Gordon Hall has several roofs built on top of each other, so the job is not an easy one, according to Bishop.
On March 20 the company inspected the roof and shingles, which contain asbestos that must be removed in addition to poor workmanship done in the past, making the job even more costly.
DAHS&M members choose a sheet metal panel roof due to its life expectancy of 40 years.
"We wanted to keep the ongoing maintenance costs down," Bishop said.
The society has already raised $1.5 million to buy the building outright from the University of Michigan and $10,000 for the porch, so Bishop doesn't anticipate the community's support of Gordon Hall wavering now, he said. But there are other lesser options just in case.
"If we have to settle for a cheaper roof, we'll do that, but this is really the best choice," Bishop said.
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