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Friday, June 13, 2008 5:13 PM CDT
Charleston city hall puts on new face
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — City Hall was a nearly windowless black and grey structure with an aged elevator when renovations began in the fall.
Sun now shines in through multiple windows at City Hall, the black and grey is giving way to a new red brick-like exterior, and a new elevator is almost ready for public usage.
Two-story scaffolding covers part of the north and west sides of the building this week as workers from Burgener Plastering Inc. of Monticello continue installing a Dryvit-band custom brick stucco system on the building.
“They are about halfway done,” said Chuck Burgener, owner of the company. He estimated the exterior surface work will be completed in approximately three weeks.
Workers have already placed the red brick-like material over the black and grey glazed bricks on the east side of City Hall and half the north side.
Burgener said the stucco is installed over a layer of fiberglass that strengthens and waterproofs the exterior surface and a layer of plastic foam that insulates the building.
“You do gain some insulation value out of it,” Burgener said.
City Planner Jeff Finley said the building’s walls consist mostly of concrete and steel, so the extra insulation will help. Renovation plans also included installing energy-efficient windows, some of which were placed where windows had been covered many years before.
Finley said red brick, with beige trim, was chosen for the exterior to help City Hall blend in with the look of other buildings on the courthouse square. He added this color scheme will be carried over to the south side of the building, without the brick texture.
“Aesthetics was a big part of it,” Finley said. “We want the building to seem like it fits on the square.”
Renovations have also included the installation of a new elevator on the front of City Hall to replace the approximately 40-year-old central elevator. Finley said the new elevator will hopefully be open to the public sometime in the next seven days.
A couple of Jackson Avenue parking spaces were eliminated to make way for the elevator shaft addition. A new sidewalk with a brick boulevard will curve around the addition. Visitors will be able to enter City Hall via doors on either side of this addition.
The entry hall to City Hall has changed as much as the exterior of the building. The formerly open second floor has been filled in to create a lobby and overflow seating area for the Charleston City Council chambers. New double doors open into this lobby.
Other renovations to the second floor have included moving the tourism office to the southeast corner of City Hall, creating a board room in the old tourism space, and building two handicapped accessible restrooms.
Outside, the parking lots around the City Hall and the adjacent Charleston police station have been resurfaced. A drive-through lane with a pneumatic tube has been installed on the west side of the building for water bill and other payments.
Finley said the completion of the new exterior and the opening of the new elevator will mark the end of most outdoor renovations. He said work will then shift indoors to changes in the layout of offices on the first floor.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.
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