Liz Kirchner
communitynews@ourvalley.org
After picking up and hauling the lofty, deep-porched and turreted Victorian from its original site on Main Street, it took a dozen years of careful, scholarly restoration to open the Alexander Black House to the public in 2014.
1_ Restored to its green and red, cross-gabled, gingerbread glory in 2012, the Victorian house of Alexander Black, a descendent of William Black, Blacksburg’s founder, stands now on Draper Road serving as a museum and cultural center.
But restoration didn’t extend up the finely crafted, but narrow oak staircase to the second floor.
“Fortunately we do not have to wait another twelve years to complete the project,” a recent announcement from the Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation said.
Restoration of the second floor will begin next month and take about three years. The $500,000 restoration will include the addition of an elevator to make the space handicap accessible and double the museum’s current capacity.
Serving the museum’s role as a cultural center, the second floor with its balconies and vertical windows will provide space for exhibits, meetings, educational and special events, as well as a research/genealogy room.
“We are still fundraising,” the foundation said and people can help in the, “Give Us a Lift” campaign to help buy the elevator.
For more information, visit www.blacksburgmuseum.org or call 558-0746.
