MAY VOLUNTEER DROP IN HOURS

People have been asking how they can volunteer more regularly. For the month of May we'll test out having drop in times for volunteers who are interested in coming by. If you want to pop in and scrape some wallpaper for a few hours, or work on other projects - we will be onsite and set up for volunteers during these dates/times: MAY Tuesdays and Thursdays - 10am - 2pm Friday evenings (with beer!) 5 - 7pm Sundays 2 - 5pm If there's a specific project that you'd be interested in tackling - talk to us! While it's ok to pop in, a heads up is always appreciated...e-mail us at dirtpalacepublicprojects@gmail.com If you come by dress for a mess & remember that it's still cold!

Guest Blogger Mike DeCesare!

I’m Mike I’m 12 years old. I play basketball, baseball and football. The one time I was on Broadway street, the house was new to me I had never heard about it or even seen it ,but the first time i laid my eyes on it it just caught me. I had never seen architecture like it around, I really love Victorian history like the house ,so Back in 2017 I started doing some research on the house to see if anyone owned it or its abandoned and kind of figure out the status, then i read it was purchased by a group named Dirtpalace, I continued some research and a few months ago i got in contact with Xander she was very nice, I told her about how much i love Victorian history and how I’d do anything to help save it. I couldn't even imagine it being knocked down because it’s a piece of Rhode Island history. I've been to a bunch of different Victorian houses none of them catch my eye like the wedding cake house. When you walk inside it's like a Newport mansion. There's stained glass a very large mirror that is protected, lots of fireplaces, one of the very nice ones are cracked down the middle i found that quite disappointing but i hope that will get to be repaired. I recently went with my mom to help work, I love to work especially on this house I scraped some wallpaper and helped put a door frame in, after that Xander showed me how to do plaster crack repairs. interested in the tower and also the screened-in deck, the tower seemed very cool because you can literally see all of providence not many if none other houses have that feature. I also really liked how the ladder up to the tower was kept original and not ripped out. I also think the landscaping is one of the top 3 most important things of preserving a house. To bring it back to life with bright green grass and refurbish the small metal fence along the perimeter of the yard. The project is going to be rough, there is tons of work to do but Xander and Pippi seem very determined to do the #1 most important thing which is preservation not renovation fully but I think the important thing is to make it as original and the same as it was when it was first built, they don't want to change the house. For example there was a very big decision about steam heat and I think that's one of the most important parts of an old house, like you cant have an old house with forced heat it just isn't right that will make the house feel like a museum not like a actual house. It won't have that same warm feeling without the steam-heat.
I found this picture very interesting because there looks to be a fountain there I don't know if there is one still and its just covered but I don't think so. I think the house should be fixed up to look as close as possible to this original picture.

SUNDAY WORKDAY!!!!

Our Saturday Workday was TOTALLY AMAZING!!!!

So much wallpaper was scraped

5 tons of rubble was moved to the dumpster

The infamous 600 lb holly thistle radiator made it to the 2nd floor

Not to mention all the work done on the grounds.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the 50+ Volunteers who came out on Saturday!!!

Bubbles and Rubble Workday!

BUBBLES AND RUBBLE WORKDAY AT THE WEDDING CAKE HOUSE

People have been asking – When are we going to have another workday at the Wedding Cake House? Well... now that it is spring ?!? (Is it?), we are aim to please! If you have an interest in coming over and lending a hand with physical labor, we're ready to take you up on it! Skip the gym & come and help us move bags of rubble to the dumpster, or move the “infamous” holly and thistle steam radiator to the 2^nd floor. Still have a chill? Warm up by steaming off wallpaper

We'll likely have about 3 tons of bagged plaster rubble (150 ready to go 40ish pound bags) to move into a dumpster & many hands will make much lighter work of this! There will also be other jobs for people without the need for heavy lifting!

Saturday April 14th

We'll get started at 2:00 pm, and start wrapping up and making bubbly cocktails and mocktails at around 5pm. The amazing Lucie Searle will once again grace us with her fantastic cooking. If you can RSVP and let us know if and when you're coming that would be great!! e-mail us at dirtpalacepublicprojects@gmail.com

If you have work gloves, wear em! We'll have dust masks, hand wipes, and tools on hand.