Major revamp of NY's City Hall kicks off
Source: Agencies |
July 23, 2010, Friday
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AFTER rotting trusses, faulty wiring and sagging ceilings were discovered in New York's City Hall, the nearly 200-year-old national landmark is undergoing a major renovation that will displace the City Council and other operations for at least a year.
The city discovered deteriorating conditions during a minor renovation a few years ago, which prompted a wider examination of the building. Officials found widespread failings and alarming decay: cracks through the trusses that support the roof, a rotting basement floor, wiring that was known to spark and dangerously sagging ceilings.
The New York City Hall is a major part of New York City history. It displayed assassinated President Abraham Lincoln's body for public viewing in 1865 and is among the nation's oldest continuously used city halls, the seat of municipal governments in the United States.
The building once was the home of executive, legislative and judicial operations, including a criminal court and jail, in the city, but it is now occupied by the offices of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council and their supporting operations.
The white Renaissance Revival-style building was the site of viewings of the bodies of Lincoln and Ulysses S Grant, the Northern general who accepted the Southern surrender after the US Civil War and later became president. It was illuminated one September evening in 1813 to commemorate American victories in the War of 1812 against the British. General Dwight D Eisenhower was welcomed with a party in the City Hall on his return from leading the Allied victory in Europe in 1945.
Its grandeur is fading.
"It's gotten to the point where it's really bad," said Philip Kelly, the city official overseeing the renovation. "It has to be done. It's amazing no one's been hurt or there hasn't been a fire."
The lower Manhattan building also has survived disaster, including a fire in 1858 during fireworks celebrations marking the laying of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.
Many of the crumbling elements date to its original construction.
When workers first eyeballed the renovation project, the cost was estimated at US$65 million. Officials now say the expense has shot up to US$106 million as crews found more problems when they ripped into walls and ceilings.
The building's last major update was in the 1950s, when the exterior marble and brownstone were replaced with white limestone, and an elevator was installed.
The city discovered deteriorating conditions during a minor renovation a few years ago, which prompted a wider examination of the building. Officials found widespread failings and alarming decay: cracks through the trusses that support the roof, a rotting basement floor, wiring that was known to spark and dangerously sagging ceilings.
The New York City Hall is a major part of New York City history. It displayed assassinated President Abraham Lincoln's body for public viewing in 1865 and is among the nation's oldest continuously used city halls, the seat of municipal governments in the United States.
The building once was the home of executive, legislative and judicial operations, including a criminal court and jail, in the city, but it is now occupied by the offices of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council and their supporting operations.
The white Renaissance Revival-style building was the site of viewings of the bodies of Lincoln and Ulysses S Grant, the Northern general who accepted the Southern surrender after the US Civil War and later became president. It was illuminated one September evening in 1813 to commemorate American victories in the War of 1812 against the British. General Dwight D Eisenhower was welcomed with a party in the City Hall on his return from leading the Allied victory in Europe in 1945.
Its grandeur is fading.
"It's gotten to the point where it's really bad," said Philip Kelly, the city official overseeing the renovation. "It has to be done. It's amazing no one's been hurt or there hasn't been a fire."
The lower Manhattan building also has survived disaster, including a fire in 1858 during fireworks celebrations marking the laying of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.
Many of the crumbling elements date to its original construction.
When workers first eyeballed the renovation project, the cost was estimated at US$65 million. Officials now say the expense has shot up to US$106 million as crews found more problems when they ripped into walls and ceilings.
The building's last major update was in the 1950s, when the exterior marble and brownstone were replaced with white limestone, and an elevator was installed.
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