SEQUIM — The installation of an elevator at the historic Dungeness Schoolhouse allows easy access to events on the second floor, something that posed a challenge in the past for some.
The elevator is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and was inspected by Clallam County in November, said Judy Stipe, executive director of the Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley, which owns and operates the schoolhouse.
The elevator replaces a dysfunctional chair lift that had been nicknamed “Galloping Gerdy,” Stipe said.
“We have this old, nasty chairlift that made about 2½ trips and would quit in the middle of the last trip,” Stipe said.
The building, which opened as a schoolhouse in February 1893, is located along the banks of the Dungeness River about 5 miles north of Sequim at 2781 Towne Road.
The building’s second floor features a stage and auditorium with a maximum capacity of about 90 people.
“We’ve had functions” on the second floor “and families actually have carried their family members in the wheelchair up these really nasty steps” because the chair lift was out of service, Stipe said.
The chairlift will be removed in the near future, she said.
In the meantime, “we are using it . . . to run cookies to the top,” she said.
“That is about all we trust” it for.
Now, schoolhouse staff can transport “anyone with a physical challenge to the second floor to attend classes, to attend events, to attend any kind of theater arts or musical arts,” Stipe said.
The project, Stipe said, was kick-started in 2014 with an initial contribution of $1,000 from the museum and a $20,000 grant provided by the Albert Haller Foundation, a charitable organization based in Sequim.
Another $5,400 was contributed through local fundraising efforts, Stipe said.
While the total project was estimated at $68,000, the MAC was able to save about $30,000 through volunteer labor and donated materials, Stipe said.
Charlie Smith of Lindberg & Smith Architects in Port Angeles drew up the plans for free, Stipe said, with Daniel L. Smith of Dan Smith Construction providing the labor free of charge.
The Thomas Building Center provided a discount on building materials, with owner Bill Littlejohn donating half free of charge, Stipe said.
The MAC still owes about $11,000 to pay off the project, Stipe said, adding that she expects that money will be generated through donations.
The elevator shaft was built into a cloakroom downstairs and a closet on the second floor, she said.
The elevator “is so tightly fit into the old cloakroom that you wouldn’t even know it’s there, and it is wonderful,” she said.
The lift is capable of hoisting up to 750 pounds and is wheelchair-accessible, she said.
“We are just so thrilled about this because we have a lot of weddings and a lot of different functions, and people were left out,” she said.
“Not anymore.”
For more information about the schoolhouse, visit http://tinyurl.com/PDN-schoolhouse or call 360-681-2257.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
