We love reclaimed stories, especially ones that put a contemporary twist on a historic past. The Curtis Manor property in the port city of Oswego, NY is a tale that we are thrilled to have taken a part in. This job is a testament to the enduring relationships that we build through the design and build of our bespoke timber frames. (Check out video of the raising here)
The owner of the property, Tony Pauldine, worked with New Energy Works on an addition for his home almost four decades ago and immediately thought of us when the time came to erect a pavilion for his reimagined and expansive event property.
Pauldine recalls, “I had Jonathan do an addition for me about thirty-five years ago on my home, and then I got involved with Curtis Manor, this wedding venue. I wanted to have a large pavilion built. I was very pleased to be able to call New Energy Works again, and you were able to put together a design and proposal that we loved and were able to install it to our specifications.”
Curtis Manor is a former dairy farm located amongst the apple orchards on the shoreline of Lake Ontario. In 2017 the property was in a state of neglect and purchased by Pauldine. He immediately saw the promise and history in the property and embarked on a two-year renovation. The end goal was to refurbish and update the property while being sensitive to its storied past and longtime community standing.
The iconic location was instantly provided a new life as an upgraded and fully operational wedding and event facility. The expansive property is able to accommodate most any event and features several high-end indoor-outdoor event spaces across the pastoral acreage just moments from Lake Ontario.
Acre by acre and piece by piece the property and facilities were given a facelift. One highly sought after addition following the first years of operation was the inclusion of an outdoor pavilion large enough to accommodate additional wedding ceremonies, corporate events, and family gatherings.
Pauldine says, “I was really pleased New Energy Works pricing was affordable, and we were able to contract them to erect the new pavilion. We did all the site work and the concrete work; and the Stampcrete we used was kind of a brown color, so we had the timber frame stained in a way that would complement that.”
The pavilion’s consistency with the other facilities on the property was the key to success both aesthetically and functionally. The goal to retain the pavilion’s rustic flavor while still providing modern amenities was partially accomplished by building with heavy timber.
Pauldine says, “It's a large open pavilion. We currently have a wedding venue that has a ceremony room, then we opened up a much larger wedding venue on the same property that did not have a place for ceremonies. So, we decided that we were going to put up this large pavilion. It’s about 28’ x 62’, and it'll hold about two hundred and twenty people. In this coming year, we're going to build a nice entryway. We'll have a pond dug and it'll have fish and landscaping around it with some walkways up to a bridge over the creek, to the other side. There will be a walkway that leads from the bridge to the pavilion for ceremonies.”
Once the planning stages for the pavilion were finalized, and foundational work was completed, the timber frame team arrived and began on raising the timber frame structure.
“The New Energy Works guys are very professional; they really know their business. They got right down to it. They are great laborers and a great crew.
New Energy Works did a very nice, arched beam on the front of the pavilion. They curved it and gave it a little bit of additional height and a nice pitch to the roof. Now, we're just waiting for the weather, but we're going to do a standing seam metal roof like we have on the other buildings on the property.
The timbers are Douglas Fir with a bit of a stain. It wasn't a solid stain. It was semitransparent, I would say. A cool stain that gave a nice color to the pavilion and will work with the color of the metal roof that we're going to be putting on, as well as the look of the stamp pad.”
Once work concludes on the pavilion there will be yet another picturesque piece in the nature-centric wedding facility.
Pauline concludes, “Hopefully it'll add to our total development, this beautiful new pavilion, and it'll be very appealing to our clients. So, when we invite brides onto the complex, this is just another added value that we can offer.
Everything about the project, from working with the office, the designs, and the back and forth was great. Once they had the raising scheduled it really went pretty flawlessly. The design and execution had no issues at all. Very, very happy; fantastic work.”
