Tumwater staff, nonprofit outline preservation projects, History & Nature Center concept and brewery-site acquisition

City staff and the Columbia Tamara Foundation briefed the Tumwater Historic Preservation Commission on Oct. 16 about a series of preservation and park projects, a conceptual History & Nature Center, and the city’s recent acquisition of former brewery parking lots.

Parks staff reported completion of the Crosby House underpinning and foundation stabilization; the work includes new perimeter foundation, pier-and-post connections and seismic straps intended to stop ongoing settlement and vibration damage. Staff said the next phases at Crosby House will be a new roof, gutters and siding to address water infiltration and long-term preservation.

The Brewmaster’s House remains on hold. Staff told commissioners that while interior work and some stabilization are complete, boxes of archival and registration material from that property remain in storage following a prior arson and subsequent fumigation; the foundation and city are still determining a plan for restoring and rehousing the Brewmaster’s House collections.

Parks and Recreation staff also reported that the department has relocated its office to a former DOT building near the…