Restoration of The Dairy

The Dairy, designed to resemble a Victorian country cottage and completed in 1871, is located in the Children’s District - an area designed specifically for young visitors and their caretakers. Its original function was to provide fresh milk which was not readily available at that time. At south facing loggia, visitors could enjoy cool breezes while overlooking the rolling landscape. It is worth noting that the Dairy is built against Transverse Road No. 1 (now known as 65th Street Transverse) with access for deliveries negating the need for traffic within the Park.

Overtime, the building deteriorated and it was shuttered sometime mid-20th century until the Conservancy was formed and it was restored and became the Park’s first visitor center, a use with continues to this day.

Following almost 4 decades of use, a recent restoration was required to address deteriorated building envelope conditions, interior climate and to make the building accessible from the East Drive.

Scope consisted of select masonry repointing and repair, and complete cleaning; select waterproofing installations, roofing repairs, and window and door replacements. Work at loggia included new railing installation, select timber repairs and post replacements, replacement of cupola at loggia, updated paint color scheme. Interior was completely gutted with new layout of back of house spaces to accommodate new mechanical and electrical spaces to support new heating and cooling systems, new stairs and staff accessible restroom.

Another key component of this work included the installation all new LED lighting and associated control system to light up the newly restored building. For more information on the lighting please go here.

To hear more on the history of the Dairy and the recent restoration please see video here.