Hi everyone,
Happy 2025! I’ve said before that this is going to be an exciting year and today, I’m going to say that the excitement starts now! I’m back from a visit to 473 Oakwood and a lot has progressed since just before Christmas. So, here is your first 2025 installment of “People and Stuff at 473”. I’m going to take you on a bit of a tour, using some photos and video. And I’m going to read from my notes to be a good tour guide … here we go:
We have photos of the front of the building (see below) showing the two new solid panels that sit in front of our kitchen and our board room. These pieces weren’t there before, so now we can finally see the façade taking the shape that is shown in the architect’s drawing of the facade. What we can also see on the front of the building is that the window frames are now in place; there’s a couple of photos of the frames just waiting for the glass to be installed. There is also a photo of all of the glass panels now sitting in our parking lot at the back, waiting to be hoisted up to the second floor and installed into the window frames.
What was very exciting to me also was being able to walk through the main floor of the building for the first time with all of the rooms and walls now in their final format. The old walls have been taken away, the new walls are all closed in, and I can tour the first floor and see exactly the spaces that we will be using. I’ve posted a photo of the rear of the building, which is just waiting for the windows to be installed on both levels, and I’ve posted a video tour of the first floor. I apologize that it is a little cut off so it doesn’t include the entry vestibule or the big room, plus it might make you a bit dizzy because it moves pretty fast. The first room you see is the new room which is set up to be a future kitchen on the ground floor. From there you proceed down the RE Hallway … this is where we’ll have cubbies and coat hooks and shelving for the children’s materials, and you can walk past a classroom, the nursery, and the bathroom in that area (which has all kinds of stuff sitting in it right now), and the final beautifully lit room that faces Oakwood Avenue. From there you come into the main lobby on the Oakwood side of the building and you turn and look back at the rear entrance area, which will have windows that aren’t yet there so you don’t see all the light that will come in there when they’re installed. This is the first time I’ve been able to walk this actual pathway, fully laid out, so that’s really exciting.
Up on the second floor, we now have 3 skylights installed; you can see some photos and a video of the skylights over the stairway and in the 2nd floor lobby where you’ll enter either the sanctuary or the community rooms. The ceiling panels aren’t up yet so you can see the whole structure of the cones that bring light from the rooftop down into the building. I’ve also posted a across the front of the building at the upper level. So, you’ll see the floor-to-ceiling window view from our new community room and through to the kitchen and meeting room space. Take note of the big windows at the south end of the meeting room … this corner of the building is very visible when driving north on Oakwood and we’ll have a couple of our stained-glass panels installed in this corner to create a great impression as people approach from the south.
We are getting closer to the time when we’ll be able to invite you into the building for a tour of your own; it is so much better when you’re actually standing there yourself but I hope these photos and videos help you to share in the excitement for now. I’ll have even more to share in another month so stay tuned for the next update. Thanks for now.
