FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The Allen House was moved to the Fort St. John North Peace Museum during December of 2016 and is now getting some much needed TLC.
Manager/Curator, Heather Sjoblom says there are currently many parts of the house being worked on including the replacement of rotting and missing logs and the roof.
Ken Boon of Chinook Log Cabins is working on long replacement. Sjoblom says the cost of this is somewhere around $10,000 with numerous volunteer hours from Ken and others.
In August, Ralph Reese of RTR Roofing will be doing the roof of the house. The cost of this is expected to be $23,000. By the end of the summer, the cost so far will be at a estimated $63,700.
“Nearly all of the funding has been provided by the Peace River Regional District through their Grant-in-Aid program. The North Peace Historical Society (NPHS- who operates the Fort St. John North Peace Museum) contributes the volunteers as well as some of the funding when our costs override the grant money available from PRRD.
Last year, with grants from PRRD, the NPHS spent $13,200 to have a foundation built by Andrew Keim and Eternity Timbers. As the building had been moved on the Allen/Large property once in the 1980s, it had no foundation and the bottom logs are missing. With more funds from PRRD, John Bergen and and Bergen Building Moving moved the house from Baldonnel to the museum property for $17,480.”
The museum wants to stabilize the outside of the building so that the elements don’t come through and wreck the interior further. Work will start on windows in the future (as funding or donations allow) and then the they will move to the inside.
“Depending on funding, we hope to complete our restoration by 2020. If anyone wants to make a donation to this project, they can make a donation to the North Peace Historical Society. Tax receipts can be issued for monetary donations greater than $10.”
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