Despite cold, Barrington White House work remains on schedule

Cold weather may have closed schools and even some businesses Wednesday and Thursday, but renovation work continued undisturbed inside the Barrington White House, where crews have just under six months left to restore the 117-year old house to its former glory.

Chet Busse, a senior project manager with Pepper Construction, said his crews have done extensive mechanical work and structural upgrades to the building.

"It looks like it's just been sitting there, but there's a lot going on inside," Busse said.

One of the most noticeable steps in the renovation has to do with the three-story building's roof, which crews removed in the fall. Busse said crews have strengthened the building so it will be able to support a new roof system featuring metal trusses and fire-treated materials.

The old roof's support system allowed only about nine or ten feet of headroom in the third-floor ballroom, Busse said. The new roof will have the same exterior size and shape, but allow about twice the headroom.

Beth Raseman, the project coordinator for the village, said since weather forced work inside crews have built a shaft for a new elevator and dug seven geothermal wells, each 450-500 feet deep. Once new ducts are built, the White House will be the first building in Barrington to be heated and cooled by cheap, renewable geothermal energy, she said.

The $6.1 million renovation project is being funded through community donations and grants.

Raseman said more than 150 individual donors have pledged more than $4.7 million to the project, up about $700,000 since work began in late July. One donor paid to have a tree outside the house dedicated to her husband, and there are other naming opportunities available, she added. Any donation of $1,000 or more will be listed on the donor wall inside the building.

Organizers plan to hold a major donor thank you event before the White House's grand public unveiling during the village's Fourth of July festivities.

Busse said once the weather improves and the new roof is affixed, progress on the exterior of the house will move along quickly. He expects work to finish in time for the Fourth of July opening.

"We'll find a way," he said.