In Photos: Welcome Center Timber Raising
It's been a monumental few weeks at North House as the Welcome Center timber raising has completed! Read on to see the Welcome Center take shape, from raising the first timbers to putting the final piece in place.
The second half of November 2023 was a memorable time at North House. In addition to hosting the Winterers' Gathering & Arctic Film Festival, we raised the timbers for the new Welcome Center! Seeing the future of the folk school take shape right before our eyes has been nothing short of inspiring. It’s thrilling to envision what’s in store for this building—to imagine our new School Store filling the first floor while students craft away in the upper and lower-level classrooms.
Thank you especially to Tom Healy, Peter Henrikson, Andrew Albertson, Carter Gjevre, and our amazing group of builders, contractors, and supporters who have made this raising possible.
Take a look at how the project has progressed over the last few weeks!
Thursday, November 16
The crane arrives on campus and the builders bring the first set of timbers to the Welcome Center site
The moment before the first timber takes to the sky
Raising the first timber
November 17-18
Work continues during the Winterers' Gathering & Arctic Film Festival
Tom Healy and Dave Furcht on the site
November 20-29
The frame of the Welcome Center takes shape as work on the upper stories continues
November 29, 2023
Thursday, November 30
The final timbers are put into place!
Peter Henrikson and Andrew Albertson prepare one of the final timber pieces to be lifted
The crane lifts the pieces to Mike Loeffler and Dave Furcht at the top
Mike Loeffler puts one of the very last pieces into place
Peter and Andrew attach an evergreen bough to the final piece. Putting a bough on the highest point of a new structure is a timber framing tradition to give thanks to the trees that went into the structure
The final piece takes to the sky
Dave screws the piece into place
And that's a wrap!
L-R: Peter Henrikson, Mike Loeffler, Dave Furcht, and Andrew Albertson. Tom Healy and Carter Gjevre (not pictured) were instrumental throughout the framing process.
