Skene Manor to open Friday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every year the Skene Manor undergoes a number of renovations and that will be the case again this summer as the venerable estate prepares to open.

The Skene Manor will open its doors for the 2012 season this Friday, April 20, and will be open from noon until 4 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the spring and summer months.

“Lunch and tours will be available and we’ll continue to have our regular monthly dinners on the fourth Wednesday of each month. It’s a different theme each time,” said Catherine Manuele of the Skene Manor Preservation Society.

One of the first things patrons may notice as they make their way up Skene Street and Potters Terrace is the building’s roof which has undergone a thorough restoration over the winter.

For the better part of the last four months, crews have been repairing and restoring the roof so it looks as it did when it was built more than a century ago.

“The roof was really a necessary thing,” Manuele said. “It was one of our priorities.”

After the work is complete, the Skene Manor Preservation Society will shift its focus to renovating the front of the building and constructing a small side porch.

“That (the porch) was taken down 10 to 15 years ago and once that is complete, it will take care of the outside,” Manuele said.

Inside the manor, visitors will find few changes.

Lunch will continue to be served in tea room and patrons can relax in the first-floor parlor or purchase souvenirs in the gift shop.

Attractions on the upper floors will continue to include the Gilly Room, dedicated in honor of Ambrose Gilligan, a diorama of 19^th century Whitehall, and several other rooms furnished and decorated in a period-appropriate style.

Manuele said the society is looking forward to another successful season, and daily lunches and the monthly dinners will help raise funds for preservation and upkeep costs. Complimentary tours are available anytime the building is open and group tours and special events may be arranged.

All the meals are prepared and served by volunteers and anyone who would to like to volunteer their time at the manor is encouraged to stop by.

For more information, call the Skene Manor at 499-1906.

Comments

comments

Tags: Ambrose, Complimentary Tours, Diorama, Four Months, Fridays, Gilligan, Manuele, Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp, Patrons, Potters, Preservation Society, Purchase Souvenirs, Renovations, Saturdays, Side Porch, Spring And Summer, Tea Room, Upkeep Costs, Upper Floors, Whitehall