Extensive restoration work on the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site's buildings is now underway.
Top priority is saving the 121-year-old Stores Building.
The Stores Building, built in 1895, was described as being in a state of "critical failure" when the federal government announced $12.3 million in funding, in July 2015, for much-needed repair for several of the National Historic Site's buildings and entry road.
The funding is worth it, said Jeanette Cowan, Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site manager, speaking to SooToday at a media-only event Thursday.
"We want to preserve our Canadian heritage and share that with visitors from Canada and abroad…being able to to revitalize these buildings and open them up to the public (after being closed for many years) is important," Cowan said.
"We want to be able to let visitors come inside the buildings and we want to be able to tell them our stories, to have fun and engaging experiences…eventually these buildings will be open and we'll have more to offer visitors."
$2.2 million of the $12.3 million in restoration funding will go to saving the Stores Building.
In an impressive display of engineering and dedication to preserving one of the Sault's oldest structures, the Stores Building's foundation will be completely restored.
In order to achieve that, the entire south wall of the red sandstone building will be removed, stone by stone.
Each stone has been catalogued and will be kept in storage at the National Historic Site, along with the Stores Building's original windows.
Each stone of the wall will then be put back in its original place once the Stores Building's foundation has been restored.
"There's a lot of challenges when you go back to a building that's 120-years-old…the investigation revealed conditions that were much worse than originally anticipated," said Parks Canada's Barry Guzzo, speaking to reporters outside the Stores Building Thursday.
"All of those stones will go back exactly where they were…it's going to be an historic rebuild, so when we're finished it'll be fully repaired, back in its original condition, but it'll look a lot better, with structural strength again," said Ed Cvar, RA Engineers & Inspectors civil engineer.
SooToday took exclusive still photos and video of the building's interior.
"Our scheduled takeover date is July 1, 2017 for this particular building…it will be substantially completed by then," Guzzo said.
Restoration work on the building began in August 2015, but is now beginning in earnest.
Repaving of the site's entry road is also currently underway, to be followed by restoration of the site's powerhouse and superintendent's residence.
$5.9 million will go to restoration and protection of the site's powerhouse and associated structures.
$1.2 million will go to repairs to the superintendent's residence, where summer teas, weddings and educational programs for children are usually held each year.
Renovations will keep the superintendent's house closed this year, however.
Another $3 million goes to the design and repaving of the site's entry road.
"Our target (for renovations to the entire National Historic Site to be completed) is clearly 2020," Guzzo said.
Work crews are drawing on original blueprints and drawings as an information source in restoration of the Stores Building.
The two-storey structure was originally a workshop to service the canal.
Work on the Stores Building is being done by local contractor CDI and RA Engineers & Inspectors consulting firm, in conjunction with Parks Canada's engineering and conservation teams.
Parks Canada took over management of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site property in 1979.
The Site is open to the public each year as an historic attraction from the Victoria Day Weekend until Thanksgiving Weekend, though the neighbouring property on Whitefish Island is accessible all year by crossing the Canal gates.
The Canal is open from May 15 to October 15 each year.