PORT TOWNSEND — A state ruling on a historical fireplace could put a crimp in plans for the renovation of the Charles Pink House.
The Port Townsend City Council on Monday voted to separate the renovation of the historic Pink House at the corner of Lawrence and Harrison streets from that of the main building of the Port Townsend Public Library.
As originally conceived, the $9 million project to upgrade the Port Townsend Public Library included the renovation of the original Carnegie Library at 1220 Lawrence St., which was built in 1913, adding another floor to the 1996 addition and renovating the adjacent Charles Pink House, built circa 1867.
The change made Monday was to show some results of fundraising by going ahead this summer with a $120,000 to $140,000 renovation of the Pink House, using funds already in hand, to remove a wall between two meeting rooms to create a larger meeting space.
But, it was announced Monday night, the state Department of Archaeology and Historical Preservation has determined that removal of a fireplace on this wall would create an adverse impact.
“This is short notice,” said Margaret Lee of Port Townsend, who lived in the house when it was subdivided into apartments.
“For the city to spring this on us at the eleventh hour, that they are going to rip the heart out of one of our historical treasures, is unacceptable,” she added.
Jefferson County Historical Society Executive Director Bill Tennent complimented the city for its track record on historical preservation while warning that proceeding with plans for the Pink House could damage, rather than enhance, fundraising.
“When you get grants for programs, they will look closely at where those programs are to occur,” Tennent said.
“You won’t get funding if you are using space that has not been properly preserved.”
The city was taken by surprise by the state ruling that removal of the fireplace would have an adverse historical impact, City Manager David Timmons said.
“The state made its ruling and sent it to the feds without copying us on the decision,” Timmons said.
“But we plan to work within their guidelines.”
Timmons is preparing a response to the state ruling, with suggestions for mitigating the historical damage through other actions.
One proposal would be to remove the fireplace, save materials and document the structure so it could be reconstructed elsewhere, he said.
Another strategy would be to create a larger room by eliminating the storage space and knocking out the wall that does not use the fireplace for support, he said.
The Pink House is used for meetings and educational programs. That role will be maintained after the renovation.
The ground floor of the house is currently subdivided into two large rooms and a storage room.
Renovation would remove a wall to combine the two meeting rooms.
Separating the Pink House work from work on the larger main building “allows our capital project to move forward while we are still completing our funding strategy,” said library Director Theresa Percy.
Friends of the Library President Cameron McPherson supported the action.
“It would make our [fundraising] job a lot easier if the citizens could see that something is in progress,” she said.
Percy said she did not think removal of the fireplace had any adverse historical impact.
“There have been a lot of changes since this house was built, and a lot of what is in here is not from the original construction,” she said.
The plans for the Pink House are part of a larger project to create a library campus, increasing the size of the library to nearly 30,000 square feet — double its current size.
Fundraising for the entire project continues.
Percy has said she would like to open the new library with a ribbon-cutting in October 2013, the 100th anniversary of the original library’s construction.
For more information about the Port Townsend library, visit www.ptpubliclibrary.org.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
