Tabernacle Requires More Fixes; Architects Call for a New Roof

By CHRIS BURRELL

The bill to restore the Tabernacle was supposed to run just $1
million and cover the basics: new stained-glass windows, re-flashing the
roof and a serious scrape-and-paint job of the rusting iron structure.

But three years after mounting an ambitious fund-raising campaign to
pay for the project and start up an additional endowment fund worth $1
million, leaders in the Camp Ground now say they need almost twice the
money to do the job right.

Like most anyone overseeing an old house renovation project, the
folks in charge of saving the 124-year-old landmark in Oak Bluffs say
they ran into unexpected problems that can't go unnoticed -
cement footings for the structure and a new roof, for example.

The new design and restoration plans, drawn up by a Providence
architect, also call for reviving original historical elements of the
Tabernacle, including a zinc-coated copper roof on the cupola and 32
vintage pendant lights.

But the news that the Tabernacle Restoration Fund is looking for
another $1.9 million to pay for the expanded project has spawned two
camps in the Camp Ground.

Proponents say the work and the costs are justified, even worth
going to the bank to borrow the money to finish the project in one
swoop.

"The first phase was a $2 million campaign, and we thought it
was enough," said Russ Dagnall, president of the Martha's
Vineyard Camp Meeting Association board. "But the job grew as we
went along ... We can't stop. We have to complete the job.
It's more important than [the fact] that we didn't do it
right the first time."

But within the bounds of this historic enclave, some voices appears
to be rising up in opposition.

"We people in the Camp Ground cannot come up with that kind of
money anymore," said Bob Fuller, who has owned a house on Trinity
Circle for 35 years. "We did it the first time, the whole family
did."

It is understood that some residents are now circulating a petition
that calls on the association's 21-member board to re-consider the
plans. "This is pulling the whole community apart," said one
Camp Ground resident, who asked not to be named.

Indeed, the Tabernacle issue has made some people with strong views
about the cost and payment plans fearful of speaking publicly.

But Ralph Martell, a seasonal and weekend resident who lives in the
house his grandmother bought back in the early 1940s, is not afraid to
voice his opposition.

"The way I look at it, they've got themselves in over
their head," he said. "I'm not slamming these people.
They put their hearts into it, but I don't think they're
getting the right answers."

Mr. Dagnall and Douglas West, the association vice-president and the
man in charge of the new fund raising effort, couldn't disagree
more. Both men say they have hired the experts needed to guide them in
how to restore the Tabernacle.

Structural engineers from Rhode Island and the Providence
architectural firm - Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels
- came on the scene in the fall of 2001 and zeroed in on the shaky
foundation of the Tabernacle.

‘When they dug down, they saw it wasn't really standing
on anything," said Mr. Dagnall.

The concern, explained principal architect Martha Werenfels, was
that the Tabernacle was vulnerable to high winds from a coastal storm.
"They determined it was the turning of the structure and the
uplift. Like an umbrella, this thing could become airborne," said
Ms. Werenfels, who was on site Wednesday meeting with the building
committee.

The cost of pouring new footings for the load-bearing iron columns
came to $400,000. The work was done in the spring of 2002, digging up
the base and fastening the legs of the Tabernacle to huge concrete
blocks.

"That was a $400,000 project we hadn't counted
on," said Mr. Dagnall.

Of the $1.8 million raised in the campaign over the last three
years, only $480,000 remains in the coffers.

Mr. Dagnall can recite the restoration achievements like they were a
punch list. They include the Steinway grand piano, a new sound system,
electrical wiring upgrades, new stained-glass in the upper clerestory,
new sidewalls on the backstage and the concrete footings.

Two months ago, the architects opened four bids for the rest of the
work. The low bid came in at $1.9 million.

With that money, the Tabernacle would see its 70-year-old asbestos
roof pulled off and replaced by 9,500 square feet of a concrete material
which is about half the weight and painted a burgundy red color. Cost
for that job alone will run over $600,000.

Planners had originally thought the Tabernacle could make do with
the old roof, but Ms. Werenfels is convinced there is not much life left
in the roofing, covered with moss in many places.

With the roof gone, it will make it easier for workers to sandblast
and paint the wrought iron spines and columns, said Mr. Dagnall.

The new plans also call for replacing the cross - which is
internally lit - with a new carbon-fiber cross illuminated
externally with fiber optic lights. Gone will be the wires and cables
that hold the present cross in place, said Mr. Dagnall.

The architect studied old photographs of the Tabernacle and
incorporated that information into her design for the restoration
- bringing back the louvers on the cupola and a wrought iron
cresting over the entry pavilion.

"We have developed a comprehensive plan that we all have a lot
of confidence in," said Mr. West in a telephone interview from his
office in Washington, DC. "It's really important for
everyone to realize that the Tabernacle is an Island treasure."

Mr. Dagnall said the construction and repair work cannot happen
piecemeal. "We need to go to the banks and say we want to borrow
the money and here's our repayment plan. We should not try to do
this work as the money comes," he said.

Mr. West will unveil a detailed plan in October for how to fund the
expanded project. Meanwhile, he is already stressing the
Tabernacle's economic significance to the Island and its role in
attracting visitors.

But what about the challenge of hitting up donors who already gave
once?

"Certainly, it's not the first effort of this sort
that's had to go back a second time. It's never something
you like to do, but given the realities, it's essential we have
substantial support from people in the Campground," said Mr. West.

Mr. Dagnall is a little more apologetic. "Once we got into all
this stuff, we realized how naive we'd been. We said,
‘Let's get an architect that specializes in
this,'" he said. "Logically, we should have done that
way back in the beginning."