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[Archived] Historic Gadsby's Tavern Museum to Build Kitchen; Local Design Firm, Builder Donate Services and Materials
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:
Friday, January 30, 1998
Contact:
Gadsby's Tavern Museum, (703) 838-4242
Historic Gadsby's Tavern Museum to Build Kitchen; Local Design Firm, Builder Donate Services and Materials
Historic Gadsby's Tavern Museum to Build Kitchen; Local Design Firm, Builder Donate Services and Materials
In January 1998, work will begin on a much-needed catering kitchen for Gadsby's Tavern Museum. The project will involve transforming the basement Docents' Lounge into a kitchen which is intended, in the words of Museum Director Gretchen Bulova, "to combine modern convenience with 18th century charm."
The kitchen has been a long time coming. Gadsby's has never had a proper kitchen because in the 1770's, the fashion was to cook outside to prevent house fires and to keep the cooking staff from collapsing in the heat of summer. Now that the renovated tavern has become a popular site for weddings, meetings and dances, the absence of a kitchen has become a major nuisance for staff and groups renting the sites for private functions.
Local kitchen designer Christopher Donaghy of Kitchen Brokers in Mason Neck, VA has donated his design and management skills to the project. Donaghy, who normally does design and renovation work on $100,000 to $1,000,000 kitchens, assembled a team that will work at cost. "Nobody makes a profit on this project," he says. Ken Benza of KCB Design and Build in Annandale, VA, the contractor who is installing the kitchen at no profit, adds that "because non-profit agencies such as Gadsby's Tavern Museum are part of the culture in our area, it would be irresponsible for us to profit from them." The third member of the team is Quality Custom Cabinetry of New Holland, PA, which will provide custom-made cabinets at cost. The new kitchen, which would have cost $16,000 to $20,000 without the donation of materials and design and construction services and will cost Gadsby's Tavern Museum only $4,000. This remaining sum will be donated by The Gadsby's Tavern Museum Society as part of its ongoing campaign to fund improvement
s at the Museum.
The project is a labor of love for Donaghy who first became interested in building a kitchen for Gadsby's Tavern Museum when he rented the site for his wedding. Special care has been taken to insure that the renovations will not damage the building. New cabinetry will be free-standing so that no screws or bolts will be driven into the 1770's stonework. Care will also be taken to create a kitchen with an appearance that is in harmony with the rest of the building. Open cabinets will be custom made of rough-sawn knotty pine and all of the appliances and counter tops will be finished in wood laminates. "The hardest part of the project," Donaghy says, "was finding materials that would appear true to the period."
The new kitchen may look antique, but it will also feature up-to-date conveniences such as a dishwasher, new lighting and a built-in microwave/convection oven. It will provide caterers, museum docents and staff with ample working space, organized storage and modern conveniences.
Gadsby's Tavern Museum is located at 134 N. Royal Street in Old Town Alexandria. It has been a center for conviviality in Alexandria for over 200 years. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, John Quincy Adams and the Marquis de Lafayette all frequented the Tavern. The donation of a modern kitchen by local contractors will help to ensure that the Tavern will continue its tradition of entertaining into its third century of operations.
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