Little Victories - Belle Isle Stables Restoration

**Lowell** · May-05-12, 07:19 PM

I have driven past the stables [now maintenance center for the island] for decades en route to the handball courts. I have watched them slowly decline, windows break, then get boarded, tiles crack and fall, paint peel until it became yet another fabulous ruin bearded in ivy.

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In the past year the stables fortune has been reversed due to the efforts of the Belle Isle Women’s Committee who have undertaken to restore that most important aspect, without which all is in vain, the roof.

The upper floors are getting painted the mortar-destroying ivy is gone.

The struggle for the revival of Detroit will not be won in huge battles but in the countless little victories like this. Kudos to the Belle Isle Women's Club for this one!

From the Belle Isle Botanical Society Newsletter...

The Belle Isle Women’s Committee is restoring the roof of the historic 1898 stable buildings as part of the organization’s ongoing commitment to refurbish and beautify the island.

“The project began in August and will continue through the fall,” says Sarah Earley, president.

Royal Roofing is the contractor for the roof and the tiles are supplied by Ludowici Tile and Boston Valley Terra Cotta, she said. “The entire roof will be redone in red clay.”

Once completed, the project will represent a BIWC investment of over $700,000 in the park.