BAYarts' Huntington House gets fresh look
Throughout the pandemic, the iconic Huntington House on BAYarts' campus, located in the Huntington Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks, has remained a hub for community activities, drawing people to its open classrooms and galleries, beautifully manicured gardens and spacious porches and patios. Slated for a fresh coat of paint this year, BAYarts was working with Textbook Painting to estimate painting the exterior of the building.
The Huntington House is one of the only remaining structures of the hobby farm of industrialist John Huntington. Built in the 1880s, it originally served as the caretakers residence for the estate. After the Huntington property was purchased by the Metroparks in 1925, the building became a creative center for the arts in 1948, formerly Baycrafters and now BAYarts.
A few weeks ago, Michael Murray, owner of Textbook Painting, approached BAYarts with a unique proposition. A firm believer in giving back to the community, he offered to donate the labor for painting the building as a community project for his teams, and also secured a donation of Benjamin Moore paint from Paint CLE in Willoughby.
Last week, this plan became a reality. Despite soaring temperatures, high humidity and rain, the Textbook teams managed to prep and paint the building in three days. They even stopped to picnic on the front lawn one day as a team-building activity during the project. Timed to be ready for BAYarts’ annual fundraiser Moondance, the building now has a fresh new look for the event of the season to be held Sept. 11.
Beth Milli
Beth Milli is General Manager at BAYarts