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SPUR Weekly Update!

Updated November 12, 2002

Renovations are underway! Check back every Wednesday for an update on the construction along with progress photos! Previous weeks' photos and updates are included as part of the SPUR photo diary. The full diary will be available on CD at the end of the project.

Check out the new historic artifact section in the diary that highlights some of the historic elements uncovered during the construction. Our very own urban archaeology project.

My apologies for not captioning pictures. If you have trouble identifying what the picture shows, the picture file names are fairly descriptive.

What's happened this past week

More porch railing work was done. Fire escape was repaired. Curved crown moulding was installed in the front rooms. Flashing and roofing was put on overhangs that are new or repaired. The roof over the crash porch was replaced when it was too rotted out to reroof. Guest head floor was tiled. Interior punch list items are being worked on. Custom casing stock for the doors and windows was delivered.

What's happening this coming week

More work on the porch railing. Casing installation. More work on Guest Head.

Our hearing with the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board will be Monday the 18th. The ruling then will determine how much of the house we will have to make accessible. While making the first floor accessible has been in our plans from the start, it is likely that we will have to provide access to at least on additional floor of the house. We are asking for a variance that would allow for a 1st to 2nd floor lift built as an addition to the back of the house (from the dining room to Big Back). This, in addition to some programmatic changes, would provide a wheelchair-bound resident would provide access to all relevent areas of the house. We are asking to be given until the summer of 2004 to build the lift. All our other options are infeasible for zoning, historic, and cost reasons.

Building a lift addition would require zoning board and preservation commission. The zoning board, in turn, would rely mostly on neighbors' opinions. We have talked with both boards and all our abutters and have reasonable support for the lift, though no official approvals. After the MAAB decision next week we will be forming a plan of action for the lift, assuming it is approved.

If you are interested in working on the accessibility changes that will be required, please email Matt Condell (mcondell@alum.mit.edu). The current SPUR folks won't all be continuing on and will not all be around the Boston area come 2004.

Pictures from this past week

Porch railing demo and installation:

Plaster cast curved crown molding:

Roof work:

Guest Head floor tiling:

Phone hall door painted:

Dorm vent fan moved to the back of the house so it can't be seen from the front:

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