Students resurrecting Charlottetown city hall heritage, retrofitting main door
Students from Holland College's heritage retrofit carpentry program have been given an opportunity to refurbish an iconic piece of Charlottetown's streetscape.
The students are replacing the main front door at city hall.
The door is "one of the cornerstones for the fabric of Charlottetown itself," said instructor Josh Silver.
"To be asked to come in and work on those and put our hands on it and care and maintain that building is a deep honour. The students really react to that and rise to that occasion."
The building dates from 1888, and Silver said they don't know if the door is original. A window from the mayor's office stamped with a date from the 1980s is also part of the project.
Silver said once students start working on the door they'll be able to determine its age. The project will also include looking at historical photos, which will guide decisions about how to recreate the door.
It will take about a month to complete. Students will take it apart, determine what parts will be saved and what parts are too rotten, recreate the unusable parts, and then apply the appropriate paint.
"Ironically, if we've done a good job it looks like we've never been there," Silver said.
The 15 students are excited to get going on the work, he said, and the project is one they can include on their resumés forever.
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