PORT TOWNSEND — High tides and stormy waters Saturday thrust logs into the underside of the historic Pope Marine Building in downtown, causing damage to plumbing and closing the city facility until it can clear a safety inspection.
Joe Fields, city facility maintenance crew chief, gave the pier-supported shoreline structure next to City Dock a preliminary inspection Monday afternoon, finding a restroom drain pipe broken along with four fire suppression nozzles.
No other city-owned shoreline facilities sustained storm damage, he said.
“Water was splashing three feet up on the decking,” Fields said of the Saturday storm’s threat to the structure.
Yellow caution tape marks the damage to the building and was stretched across the building’s front door to bar entry.
A state-certified inspection company is expected to be called in to assess other possible damage to the building, said Fields.
Closed for several days
“It’s probably going to be down for two days or so,” Fields said of the building, which was originally barged to its existing site from the former Diamond Point quarantine facility pier in the 1930s.
It was then used as a warehouse.
Today, the Pope Marine Building, next to Pope Marine Park across from City Hall at Madison and Water streets, is used for arts events and other public functions.
