After a fire ripped through the pagoda at Point Defiance Park, the community lamented the damage to a historic structure that holds happy memories for so many.
As crews continue restoring the 97-year-old structure, hurrying some repairs because of the rain, Metro Parks Tacoma officials say the building – a popular spot for weddings and other special events – will maintain its historic value and even end up improved.
“I think people will be surprised by how it doesn’t look different,” Metro Parks historian Melissa McGinnis said. “It’s always tough when you lose historic fiber but we didn’t really lose that much. It will be a better building.”
The Board of Park Commissioners in September approved $1.6 million for work on the pagoda, which is fully insured. That amount should carry workers through the second phase of construction, which is securing the building and preparing for inclement weather.
It’s unknown how much the entire project will cost. Project manager Curtis Hancock said he hopes to reopen the building to the public by May, just in time for wedding season.
Park officials said the pagoda will retain its defining characters and endear itself to visitors with upgrades. The original doors are being refurbished. A Midwestern manufacturer is constructing one-third of the clay roof tiles (5,000 or so) and is set to ship them this month.
Crews have stripped 7,000 original roof tiles and hand-cleaned them before carefully stacking them in the basement.
Part of the truss on the building’s southern side was lost in the fire and will have to be replaced but most beams just needed to be sanded and cleaned.
Tacoma-based Bear Wood Windows is cleaning the smoke off 14 original windows and restoring them. Some of the windows will be functional for the first time once the pagoda reopens.
Crews now are working to bring the pagoda up to code to ensure future generations can enjoy one of the city’s favorite buildings.
Workers are drilling 15-foot pieces of steel through the walls and 3 feet into the foundation to make sure the pagoda can sustain earthquakes. A sprinkler system and walkway railings are being installed as well. The second phase of the work is to be completed by the end of the month.
In addition to code and seismic upgrades, there will be some new features, although park officials are staying mostly mum because they’re still planning.
They did say a tile roof that once covered the chimney will be brought back, the basement likely will be turned into meeting rooms and all wire molding will be hidden from view.
“We can do a few things we would have liked to do in 1988,” which is when work was last done on the pagoda, McGinnis said.
Most of the original materials survived or be reused, a fact park officials are both proud of and pleased with. “If it’s not getting put back and reused the way it was, it will be put back another way,” Hancock said.
If you stood in the pagoda before the fire and looked up, you’d have seen heavy boards made of old growth Douglas fir. It’s what the clay tiles rested atop.
Heat from the flames shrunk the 3x10 boards, so they can’t be replaced. But the century old wood – a rarity in the modern construction world – will be repurposed as trim around the pagoda.
For now, the charred boards are stashed in a corner of the basement, mere feet from where an arsonist started the blaze late April 14 or early April 15. A 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty last month to eight crimes connected with a string of fires set at the park, including first-degree arson, a felony.
The News Tribune is not naming the boy because of his age.
Stacia Glenn: 253-597-8653
stacia.glenn@thenewstribune.com
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