The Jan. 16 electrical fire that engulfed the Alki Homestead Restaurant also enflamed Alki historians and residents loyal to the restaurant due to the loss of its famous fried chicken and of course the severe damage of their beloved 1904 log structure, originally called the Fir Lodge.

Homestead owner Tom Lin said he and his project designer, West Seattle Resident Jeffrey Smith, received a final report last week from Mark Fritch, of Mark Fritch Log Homes in Sandy, Oregon. Fritch is an experienced log house contractor. He found out before the fire that his great-grandfather, Anton Borgen, helped construct the Fir Lodge while Fritch was on a visit to the Log House Museum, also built by Borgen and crew.

Fritch’s report closely resembled the assessment of a second contractor Lin hired, Todd Perbix of Seattle-based Perbix Bykonen, that about 80- percent of the logs are fully compromised. Lin’s two insurance companies, Lloyds of London and Colonial (Lloyds for the building and Lin’s personal property in the building, Colonial for the restaurant business itself) estimated the damage at $1.64 million. Lin got a second estimate from Surety Insurance Repair (SIR) at $1.85 million.

Lin said restoring the building could easily cost another $2 million, and was quick to point out that some of the remaining 20- percent of undamaged logs also become compromised once you start separating good wood from bad. The building was built with construction flaws, plus numerous repairs and redesigns over time have weakened the structure, he said

“If the fire hadn’t happened the building would have lasted,” said Lin. “I was gradually fixing it, incrementally. But the building’s been around 100 years. When you have a fire you have to address all these structural issues at one time, not bit by bit.”

Lin’s assessment echoed Smith’s, that the Fir Lodge was not extremely sturdy when constructed, and renovation was poorly conceived over the years. Smith noted that the kitchen and bar storage area were crudely cut into the walls. Logs were improperly anchored into the fireplace and have been settling.

One major column in the building was replace with another that still had bark, a perfect home for insects. Some foundation base logs were removed and salt-tainted foundation materials crudely filled in. No flashing was built to protect the front porch deck. The cutout roof in the rear exit allowed rainwater to wash down the walls and rot those logs.

The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board that officially granted the Homestead landmark status in 1996 will receive and study Lin’s reports this week and may then send their own inspectors to the Homestead to check things out before they make their decision on the building’s future.

“They are independent and just look at the facts and their federal guidelines,” said Lin. “All we can do is present the facts. There is a tipping point, and that’s for them to decide. If they feel it is structurally beyond repair, then we plan to rebuild the Homestead to look as it once did the best we can and continue to operate the restaurant.”

Fauntleroy residents and experienced restaurateurs John and Rose Zhu, who were set to purchase and operate the Homestead restaurant business in late 2008, prior to the fire, are still motivated to continue with their plans if the structure is rebuilt.

“As long as it remains the Alki Homestead Inn we want to operate the restaurant,” said Rose.

“We have faith in Tom, whatever happens to the building,” added John.

Smith said it all comes down to restoration vs. reconstruction, and added that remodeling is often more costly and reconstruction.

“It is vastly cheaper to rebuild it completely than to try to restore it. By restoring I mean keeping these few (undamaged) parts and build around it,” Smith said. “The Landmark Board may see that for all intents and purposes the structure is gone.”

“I wouldn’t touch a Homestead restoration project with a 10-foot pole,” said Fritch. “I shot 188 photos and filmed short video clips of the property and I think it’s just not salvageable. I think I could rebuild the log house and restaurant properly to match the spirit it was originally meant to be. But that’s up to Tom.

“The logs are mostly 6” and 9” in diameter instead of 12” and you’d have to remove the paint and shellac to match new logs,” Fritch added. “There just isn’t enough there.

“I wish I could say that my great-grandfather was an awesome log builder,” added Fritch. “It was a good structure but it was not world-class. My heart and soul is in that building because of my family connection but I am also very practical.”

“I don’t even want to consider selling to developers even though I have had two or three offers,” said Lin. “I had over 1000 customers at the Homestead Inn, many with families who have been going there over the past 50 years. If we don’t bring the homestead back, they won’t be happy. You have 50 years of faithful customers and history behind that site. You don’t want to lose that.”