WEST PASCO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Gazebo in Sims Park

1920s Gazebo Made Stormproof

By CHERYL BENTLEY

NEW PORT RICHEY - A deteriorating gazebo is being restored to help bring new life to downtown events.

Work is being completed on the gazebo, which sits next to the West Pasco Historical Society Museum and Library, on Circle Boulevard adjacent to Sims Park.

The gazebo has been undergoing a $20,000 renovation for months, city Parks and Recreation Director Bob Consalvo said.

Built in the 1920s, the wooden structure originally was a boathouse on the Pithlachascotee River, he said. It was moved a couple more times until 1983, when it ended up next to the historical society's home, a former wooden schoolhouse that dates to the early 20th century.

The schoolhouse was relocated in 1980 from the Seven Springs area. Alex Acey, a former West Pasco Historical Society president, donated the building to the group.

The gazebo makeover has been slow because the structure had to have extensive work to bring it up to building codes in Florida that were made more stringent after Hurricane Andrew's devastating 1992 trek across South Florida.

Although the gazebo has withstood Florida weather since the 1920s without blowing away, Consalvo said with a chuckle, regulations required hurricane strapping.

And age has taken its toll.

"We ran into a lot more damage than we knew was there," Consalvo said.

For example, some of the gazebo's columns had rotted.

The restoration is as faithful to the original design as possible, Consalvo said.

The gazebo will be used for weddings, and city and historical society functions.

"It'll last another 85 years," Consalvo said with a laugh.