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After an $8.6 million renovation on the inside a decade ago, the Allen County Courthouse is on the verge of receiving some much-needed exterior maintenance.
Although the previous renovation work focused on preserving murals and artwork inside the building, this project would focus on the limestone and granite that form the 105-year-old building. The limestone blocks and the mortar that holds those blocks together have deteriorated in places during the historic building’s long reign in downtown Fort Wayne.
Commissioner Linda Bloom is working with the Allen County Courthouse Preservation Trust to determine the scope of the damage and how to repair it correctly.
The county commissioners, who are responsible for the building’s maintenance, have set aside $256,000 to help cover costs related to repairing the limestone, a project that Bloom says is not intended to make the building look like new.
Officials involved in the project don’t yet know how much such work will cost. But Madelane Elston, president of the preservation trust board, said it will likely not cost as much as the interior restoration.
Bloom and members of the trust want to repair the mortar where it has weathered away to prevent water from seeping in between the huge limestone blocks. Over time, that water could damage the stone or even seep into the building.
The limestone blocks help support the building along with a number of steel beams inside the structure, said Mike Westfall, trust board member and chairman of the preservation committee.
A cursory survey of the Courthouse was completed more than a year ago after the head of a stone carved eagle fell from above the west entryway, said Robyn Zimmerman, executive director of the trust. The mortar in between the head and the stone behind it had likely weathered away over the years allowing water to seep in and rust away the metal pin that held the head in place, Westfall said.
No other pediments, sculptures or gargoyles on the outside of the Courthouse appear to be in danger of falling off the building, Zimmerman said.
County officials were told the Courthouse is actually in remarkable condition for a century-old building, Elston said.
But a careful look will reveal thin cracks snaking up the middle of many stone blocks. And thin patches of gray mortar can be seen flaking away. The limestone on the north side, which receives little sun, is pitted and darkened with years of built-up algae.
“There really was as much artwork out here,” Zimmerman said, comparing the exterior’s intricately carved stone with the priceless art housed inside the Courthouse.
The renovations that were completed in time for the building’s 2002 centennial gave the inside a complete face-lift. Murals were disappearing from the walls of the courtrooms, Elston said, and saving the unique artwork became a priority.
But the limestone repair project is intended to provide routine maintenance so the building does not fall into disrepair, said Westfall, who’s seen other courthouses closed because of the severe damage.
“We don’t ever want to get to that point,” he said.
An engineering firm that specializes in limestone will complete a full review of the stone and mortar this fall or in the spring. The examination of the Courthouse will likely take two or three weeks, but the engineers will need more time to determine specifically what areas need repairs, how to make those repairs and how much it will cost, Zimmerman said.
That examination will involve a bucket on a crane to lift workers so they can view the top of the building. They’ll likely use binoculars to see closely and also document the damage with photographs, Westfall said.
Based on existing blueprints of the structure, they’ll create designs for the repairs. And those designs will help the county accept bids for the repair work, Zimmerman said.
“We want to do it right, do it properly,” Bloom said, which is why the trust is taking its time.
The planned examination will likely cost about $50,000 and will come from county coffers because the Courthouse is a county-owned and maintained building, Bloom said.
Although she doesn’t know how much the repairs will cost, Bloom said the county will not need to borrow money to pay for the project as it did for the interior renovations.
Private donations collected by the trust also contributed to the interior renovation, but the trust will not contribute to the masonry work, Elston said, because the limestone repairs are considered building maintenance.
Officials won’t know how much the project might cost until after the structural review, she said.
“It’s a big building. Any amount of repairs will come at a fair price tag, just because of the size of the building,” said Kurt Heidenreich, president of Engineering Resources, a local structural consultant on the project. “It’s specialty work, too. It’s historic preservation, not just masonry repairs.”
Heidenreich likened the project to repairs of the masonry exterior of the Indiana Statehouse, which is currently being repaired.
In 2005, the State Budget Committee approved $2.2 million worth of repairs to the exterior masonry after a study that found deterioration in the stone at the Statehouse, mostly from water penetrating small cracks and freezing and thawing.
But Elston said other old buildings can’t be compared with the Courthouse because they are each unique in the way they were built. And they must be repaired in a way that is unique.
The repairs will likely be completed in stages in part because of the anticipated cost. Bloom said she might go before the County Council this year to secure financing for the project.
aiacone@jg.net
