Harris, Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum, is a very happy man.

After decades of painstaking renovation, the large, two-storeyed building with its wrap-around verandahs and sweeping vistas of the Dockyard and beyond, is at last a viable attraction for locals and visitors alike.

"It is basically back on the map, and the public seems to love it,'' Mr.

Harris says. "It is a major, new asset to Bermuda's tourism, and we intend to make it into a major cultural asset for Bermudians as well.'' According to the Director, Commissioner's House is "probably Bermuda's most important 19th century building because it was the world's first to be made with a pre-fabricated cast iron structural framework'', and its walls are constructed from hard Bermuda stone taken from Dockyard.

Allowed to fall into disrepair after the Dockyard closed, it then took a quarter of a century, including 15 years behind scaffolding, and extensive volunteer and professional labour, to bring it back to its present, beautiful state.

Financially, while Government provided a grant of $1 million as of January, 1999, the majority of donations have come from the public.

Dr. Harris estimates that the final cost of the project, which is now 90 percent complete, will be $7 A million, putting the project temporarily into the red.

"There is still work to be done on landscaping, exhibits, and various other things, and in order to finish the job we had to borrow money, so the project is presently in debt,'' he says. "However, we are continuing to `sell' rooms to donors, and we are confident that we should be able to pay off the debt in a respectable period of time.'' Today, Commissioner's House is both a museum and a splendid venue for dinners, cocktail parties, and other functions. It now sports a modern kitchen, an elevator, several new rest rooms as well as, Dr. Harris says, "the original one-seaters'', and large and small dining rooms.

The rooms on the spacious ground floor are devoted entirely to exhibitions, as is part of the upper floor, where the dining rooms are located.

"The idea is to make the museum facilities the best in Bermuda,'' Dr. Harris declares. "The object of having dining rooms on the top floor is so that we can rent the place out for evening functions. People seem very interested in using them, particularly companies, who are always looking for new venues. I think it is going to be the finest venue in Bermuda.'' Of the ground floor exhibits, the Director explains: "So far we have put in 43 major, new exhibits on slavery, Portuguese Bermudians, and the Newport-Bermuda Race, and upstairs, in co-operation with the Bermuda Archives, the HMS Vindictive paintings exhibit. "The displays are longer, Bermuda story-line exhibits which, due to their production costs, will stay up for extended periods of time.'' In fact, so successful has the Commissioner's House project been that it recently earned the Bermuda National Trust's coveted Clipper Award for conserving Bermuda's architectural heritage.

"I am absolutely delighted with the look of the house; the way it has turned out, and the public's reaction to it. They love the place,'' Dr. Harris enthuses. "People come up for events and you can't get them to leave! The visitors get on the upper verandah and sit for hours. That is wonderful to see.'' Anyone interested in helping with a donation, or in the rental of this magnificent listed historic building, should contact the Executive Director at 234-1333, fax 234-1735, or e-mail directorbmm y ibl.bm