Huronia Museum Roof Collapse
Late
in March of 2014, the Huronia Museum experienced the collapse of a section of
its flat roof. The Art Gallery of
Huronia room was affected. The enormous
snowfall of this winter along with the thaw and freeze cycles created the
conditions for the problem. The gallery contains work by the Group of Seven,
early watercolours and the art of Midland artist W.J. Woods among others. It is an important jewel in the museum’s
crown. The Huronia Museum opened in its
first building, the old Playfair Mansion down near the harbour, in 1947. The
current museum building in Little Lake Park was opened in 1967 and extended in
1975.
No
art was damaged. One display case and
the carpeting was damaged. The case can
be restored. For the time being the art gallery room will be closed.
For
a number of years, the museum has been studying expansion construction plans
looking for an appropriate plan of action to be followed by an intensive
fundraising campaign. One approach has
progressed to the point of architectural drawings. Another idea was to mimic the architectural
style of local barn designs and add a second floor on the existing footprint
structure.
There
are a number of issues that complicate the project of expansion. Along the way the protracted settlement of
the insurance claim following the fire that damaged part of the Huron village
took up a lot of the time of the museum board and administrators. Another
factor is the desire to include the boats of the maritime collection which are
now in storage and unavailable for viewing. It cannot be denied that the
Huronia Museum has a rich and varied collection: archaeology, pioneer, First
Nations, maritime, and art collections.
The puzzling problem is how to fit all this worthy material and the
museum’s wallet in the creation of a new, exciting home. The museum has over one million artifacts in
its collections.
Over
the years our chapter has had outstanding cooperation from the museum. You might consider the idea of a financial
contribution to the Huronia Museum this year.
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