Dear Sarah and Caroline, I am happy to do what I can to help you out! Here are the answers to your questions: Museum name/type Oneida Community Mansion House -- a historic house museum, home to the 19th century utopian Oneida Community. Approximate construction date of stair guard rail 1862 Height of guard rail from floor 32 inches Can visitors access locations above the first floor using this stair or access the hall and stair guardrail, if not the stair itself? Yes. We frequently lead visitors up and down these stairs and visitors on the self-guided tour often use this staircase. Did retaining the railing as part of the visitor-accessible interpretation experience require a waiver or specific discussion with code enforcement authorities, or was preservation and continued use of the historic railing just assumed, given the building's museum function? I am unsure as to the answer to this question. I believe that preservation and continued use was just assumed. The fire department brings their new officers here frequently, and we are subject to many kinds of inspections given our status as a banquet facility, apartment house and bed-and-breakfast (All this and a museum too! Really!) . I would imagine that the code officers are aware of this staircase but any discussions or waivers would have pre-dated my stint here. Good luck with your project! Kate Mockler Curator of Collections and Interpretation Oneida Community Mansion House Oneida, NY 13421 www.oneidacommunity.com (315) 363-0745 -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 9:29 AM Subject: Is Your Stair Railing like This? (Need comparable examples for Clara Barton Missing Soldier's Office) SUBJECT: Is Your Stair Railing like This? (Need comparable examples for Clara Barton Missing Soldier's Office) We need examples of house museums with similar historic stair guardrails (still in use) to support a code waiver for guard rail height. We are hoping to be able to report that 200 out of 200 house museums surveyed retained noncompliant stair railings in place without altering or supplementing them. We will, in any case, report accurately on any information you provide. Our museum space (in development) is Clara Barton's Missing Soldier's Office, located in an 1850s boarding house in downtown Washington. We sold the property for redevelopment but retain a preservation easement on Clara Barton's office and quarters. The original, spartan entrance is completely intact and we don't want to spoil this important experience for visitors. At issue is the guard railing that keeps third floor occupants from falling down the stair. We have added secondary egress but want visitors to experience the entry as Clara did, much like the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, of similar age and construction, does. Our safety engineers are concerned about rambunctious or careless visitors falling over the 30" railing that surrounds the stair, though we've assured them all visitors will be escorted in manageable numbers, along the lines of what the Tenement Museum does. Our conservation plan is similar to thiers--retaining original materials in place, carefully filling in what's missing, using original finishes and artifacts as much as possible. The authenticity of the experience is key. The project architect's suggestion of adding a contemporary wood and metal 36" railing is unacceptable to us. We would be grateful if you could take a few minutes to answer some simple questions that could be of great help to us: Museum name/type Approximate construction date of stair guard rail Height of guard rail from floor Can visitors access locations above the first floor using this stair or access the hall and stair guardrail, if not the stair itself? Did retaining the railing as part of the visitor-accessible interpretation experience require a waiver or specific discussion with code enforcement authorities, or was preservation and continued use of the historic railing just assumed, given the building's museum function? We'd be grateful if you could respond within a week so that we can move forward with project planning. Thanks for your help. Kind regards, Caroline Alderson and Sarah Garner Sarah A. Garner and Caroline Alderson Center for Historic Buildings GSA Office of the Chief Architect Public Buildings Service 1800 F Street NW, Suite 3341 Washington, DC 20405 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). 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