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Large Buildings Stabilized

GRINNELL HERALD • February 3, 2005

With large buildings stabilized, attention turns to ITM complex’s proposed ‘front door’ John Swanson, executive director of the Iowa Transportation Museum, says a small committee will be designated to take responsibility for advancing restoration of the recently acquired Spaulding motor car, while the board pursues other priorities – “the complete restoration of the buildings and getting the overall facility up and running.”

    Important stabilization work on the Spaulding campus was completed late last year. Rotten beams and wooden decking on the roofs of the two largest buildings were replaced and new roof membrane was installed. “No further water damage is possible on 90 percent of the floor space,” Swanson said of the 125,000 square feet of usable space in the three extant buildings, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“We still have to go back as we have more money and do window restoration, tuckpointing on the brick, things of that nature. But making sure water is shed off of those buildings will help prevent any further deterioration.” Braces – dubbed “flying buttresses” by local folks – were also erected to support the northern wall of the west building, which bulged 10 inches out of plumb at the level of the second floor and was moving outward at a rate of one millimeter a month.
   
Swanson explained that the wall was originally in interior wall between the existing building and another building to the north which is no longer standing.

    “It is not a bearing wall. It was never intended to do the job that it’s had to do for 50-odd years,” he said. “It’s not supporting the weight of the building, but if it did pull away, it could take parts of the other two good walls with it and do damage we certainly don’t want to have to deal with.” Because the future use of that building – and, consequently, the proper configuration of the wall – is not yet known, Swanson said the board decided that bracing to halt further deterioration was the proper measure to apply at this time.

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING IS KEY

With stabilization on the large buildings complete, all attention will now turn to the Administration Building, known locally as the Old Legion Hall, on the southeast corner of Fourth and Spring. It is in the worst shape of the three by far, Swanson says, yet it is viewed as the portal through which the rest of the project – and eventually all of the facility’s visitors – will flow. “We are currently waiting to hear on a couple of grants and hopefully we’ll have some good news in the next few weeks,” Swanson said. “All of the grants and fundraising right now are to complete the restoration of the Administration Building.”

    “It was a very difficult decision for the board last spring to move forward on the east and west buildings and ignore the Administration Building, when you knew that building needed the help most. But we had to look at the larger picture,” Swanson said.

    Built in 1903 in the Richardsonian style, the Administration Building served as a show room and “front office” for the Spaulding concern. Now, it is being called back into service as the Iowa Transportation Museum’s “front door.” Plans call for it to be restored to its original style with tin ceilings, fireplaces and a two-story corner vault. Initially, it will be used for meetings, receptions, office space, and a small display telling the story of the Spaulding concern and what the future of the complex holds when the museum is fully developed.

FIRST, COMPLETELY GUTTED

First, Swanson says, it will probably have to be gutted entirely: “It needs a complete new roof. In all likelihood, we’ll need to replace the second floor and maybe even the first floor – go right from top to bottom through the middle of the
building and put it back together.”

    In the long-term, the Administration Building will serve as the facility’s welcome center, and lead visitors to the museum and restoration areas planned for the larger eastern building. Swanson says serious consideration is being given to connecting those two buildings with a glass atrium which would contain elevators, restrooms and other service features. Such a plan would allow the complex to meet current accessibility standards while protecting the historical aspects of the existing structures.

    The museum facility itself, organizers say, “will celebrate Iowa’s role in transportation, keeping the history alive and providing an educational venue for how transportation was in the past, is now and will be in the future. Plans also envision “a restoration lab where visitors can observe craftsmen restoring vintage cars, trucks, boats, aircraft, bicycles or railroad equipment.” The use of the large western building, Swanson says, is still somewhat “up in the air.”

    “There are a lot of different ideas about that building – from document storage and archiving to a possible vintage vehicle auction house to loft apartments – we’re just looking into a lot of possible commercial applications that could help support the nonprofit [museum] side,” Swanson said.

    He described the board’s approach to the task of bringing the major facility to life as one “matching opportunity with prudence.” Swanson said the group feels that fundraising and completing the project in phases – as opposed to trying to completing the facility all at once – will, in the long run, give the project more momentum and a quicker overall completion date. With that incremental approach in mind, Swanson says if fortune favors ITM fundraising efforts, that the Administration Building will be “open and useful to the public within a year to 18 months.”

    “That’s a best case scenario. No point in being pessimists,” he says. “Pessimists can step aside. Optimists say a year to 18 months.” Thursday, February 3, 2005 At top, the motor car assembly room of the Spaulding factory. In its heyday a the turn of the last century, Spaulding manufactured 10,000 buggies a year and was Poweshiek County’s largest employer. From 1910 to 1916, the same plant turned out 1,481 automobiles – one headed home now for restoration. Above, preparing a Spaulding car for shipping. In the background, you can see the Administration Building (right) connected to the larger east building by a catwalk. A modern reinterpretation of the National Register of Historic Places site envisions a welcome center connected to a museum and restoration area by a glass atrium.