The historic Cooperage building beside Coolidge Drive near the main entrance to the UCSC campus will be rehabilitated. The design phase is expected to begin soon. Located adjacent to the old lime kilns, the Cooperage was built in 1869 and is where barrels were assembled for shipping the lime. It is one of the key buildings in the Cowell Lime Works Historic District. Millions of campus visitors have passed by this campus icon since UCSC opened in 1965.
Although the campus made minor repairs over the years, lack of funding resulted in the building’s slow deterioration. One of the early projects of The Friends was to provide funding for documentation of the building and installing supports to prevent collapse. The latter was done with a grant from the S.H. Cowell Foundation.
The University anticipates selecting a firm for design services for the Cooperage this Fall. We are thrilled to report this exciting news and look forward to keeping our members informed in upcoming newsletters as the project unfolds.
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This was one of the stories included in the Fall 2023/Winter 2024 issue of our Lime Kiln Chronicles newsletter. To see the entire issue, please go here.
