Dingley Building undergoing interior work
LEWISTON – Construction workers will spend the next six months remodeling Lewiston’s 111-year-old school office building to fix safety hazards and improve handicapped accessibility.
But the work is causing so much disruption that School Committee meetings are being shifted to a city elementary school.
Located on Oak Street, the Dingley Building was built in 1892 and used first as a teacher training facility and then as an elementary school.
The three-story brick building currently houses the school department’s central administration, including the superintendent’s office, the maintenance department and the School Committee meeting room.
The building’s exterior was redone a couple of years ago, but the interior was not brought up to new fire, safety and Americans with Disabilities Act codes.
Said Superintendent Leon Levesque, “I’m concerned about life safety and ADA issues.”
Over the next six months, workers will install a sprinkler system, upgrade wiring and remodel the stairs so they are compliant with fire codes. They will also build additional bathrooms and install an elevator to make the building more handicapped accessibility.
Because the renovations are displacing several departments, many employees have been forced to move their offices into the School Committee’s meeting room.
Until the work is completed, School Committee meetings will be held at Montello Elementary School. Meetings will not be moved if they were already scheduled to be held away from the Dingley Building.
The new meeting list includes:
• April 28, Longley Elementary School
• May 5, Montello Elementary School
• May 19, Lewiston High School/Lewiston Regional Technical Center
• June 30, Montello Elementary School
Future meeting dates and locations will be announced in June.
The $700,000 project will be completed in two phases. This first part is expected to be finished at the end of September.
During the second part, workers will improve the building’s ventilation system and will reorganize the office space. That work will begin in 2005.
ltice@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.