Summer Updates for the AmeriCorps Legacy House

Above, apprentices from the Carpenter’s Training Institute work to remodel the front facade of the AmeriCorps Legacy House.

It is almost summer in Duluth and we have some exciting updates to share with you all about the AmeriCorps Legacy House! The AmeriCorps Legacy House Project is a project to transform a previously condemned building in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood into a livable and affordable home for AmeriCorps VISTA members who serve for a year building the capacity of local non-profit organizations and communities across the Northland. 

Thanks to your donations and a grant from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, we have raised  enough funds to make significant progress on the renovation of Legacy House! Our partners at the Carpenter’s Training Institute have been the driving force behind a lot of the progress that has been made on the building over the past few months. The trainers at the Institute and their classes of apprentices have: 

  • Installed the staircase into the basement 
  • Completed basic framing of the interior walls (this means that you can see the outline of the future rooms in the house!)
  • Finished some demolition and basic repair work for the window installation 
  • Removed the old doors for the front facade of the building and installed windows 

Next up, the carpenters will be working to frame the exterior walls in order for electricians and plumbers to install the basic rough-ins or set up of the basic electrical and plumbing for the house. The carpenters will also be working to install siding on the front facade of the building with Abor Wood, a sustainably harvested and locally produced thermally modified wood, which was a generous donation from Intectural, an architectural materials distribution company in Duluth which emphasizes conservation and sustainability.

Apprentices from the Carpenter’s Training Institute help move arborwood planks which were generously donated by Intectural into the building.
Above carpenters finish installing the windows as they prepare the front of the building for arborwood siding.

We could not have reached this stage in the project without the generous support of the community and donors, but we still have a long way to go! Legacy House will still be in need of materials to finish construction and to make the building truly habitable for our VISTA members. If you are interested in supporting this project and are financially able, please consider making a donation to Ecolibrium3 today by using this link!