NEWBURYPORT — While the Custom House Maritime Museum undergoes a $255,000 facelift this month, its leaders are making up for the inconvenience by not charging admission.
“When you tour the inside, you may hear some of the construction noises outside, that takes away from the experience,” board chair Bob Cronin said.
Newburyport residents, according to Cronin already get free admission to the museum by charter.
Thanks to $100,000 donation from ARC Technologies founder Dan Healey in August, the museum is also free of charge to Amesbury residents for the rest of 2024. But Cronin added, as a thank you, the museum will now be free and open to rest the public at least until the end of October.
The museum’s director, James Russell, said the infrastructure improvement project focuses on the 1835-granite-faced museum’s exterior.
“This building was designed by Robert Mills, who designed the Washington monument,” he said. “You could say the greatest item in our collection is the building itself.”
For many years, Russell said water has seeped into the Water Street museum through cracks and holes in its old, failing mortar.
“There’s water coming in, that means there’s the danger you could have a painting on the wall and the water will go down behind the painting,” he said. “We also have collections stored inside the building and there’s water in those spaces too. Discoloration is a concern, along with paint blistering and plaster peeling.”
The issue must be addressed, Russell added, before the building, as well as its collections are compromised.
The museum also plans to upgrade its basement over the winter to make way for a kids educational discovery center. So Russell said that needs to be watertight as well.
Cronin said the realities of North Shore life have taken their toll on the building.
“We knew this was coming and it will be one headache that will be off our plate,” he said.
Work began early last week, when master mason Gary Huberdeau began re-mortaring as well as repairing the east and north faces of the building.
“You want to do as much as you can to stop the water from coming in,” Russell said. “The greater risk is undermining the nature of the mortar. Gary is finding much of it is almost powder, because it has lost its structural capabilities.”
Local company Windward Shaw has been hired as general contractor, while Vermont-based Merrimack Design Architects will play the role of preservation architect.
“Cutting out old mortar and repacking with a new mix will take approximately six weeks, weather willing,” Russell said. “We began work on the north (river) side of the building to minimize noise, dust and disruption.”
Workers will then move to the east wall when Russell said the parking spaces on that side of the museum will need to be blocked off.
Russell made sure to thank the city’s Community Preservation Committee, which gave the museum $170,000 for the $255,000 project. He added the Essex National Heritage Commission also gave $2,000, the Massachusetts Cultural Council/Cultural Facilities Fund kicked in $73,000, while another $10,000 came from Preservation Massachusetts, Inc.