“They’ve been repaired over the centuries but never rebuilt,” Ammons said.

The report will determine how future work will proceed as far as repair and stabilization, while maintaining the historic integrity of the buildings and allowing them to remain useful for another century or more. There is no firm timetable for the project, though Ammons hopes the report will be completed by the middle of 2016, at which point plans can be made for the work that needs to be done.

The Omni Homestead has set up a five-member advisory committee to assist in the work. The committee includes leaders in historic preservation, such as Elizabeth Kostelny, executive director of Preservation Virginia. In an email, she praised the resort for its “thoughtful approach to the preservation and restoration” of the bathhouses and for “showing both good stewardship of and a commitment to the preservation of these rare examples of spa architecture.”

“You might be surprised about how many people care about the buildings’ future,” Kostelny said. “We receive emails from all over the country asking for status reports.”

Kostelny said Preservation Virginia is thrilled to be part of the process and heartened by the awareness raised by her organization’s listing of the bathhouses on its annual “endangered” list.

“The list prompts people to action,” she said. “When an effort is won, and even sometimes when it is lost, the story of the journey teaches other communities what is possible. We like to talk about it as keeping the soul in Virginia communities.”