Repair of courthouse doors deemed too high; county will readvertise
“They don’t make ’em like they used to” is a quotation that could be spoken many times when referring to features of the Washington County’s ornate courthouse.
On Wednesday, the topic was the set of six doors that served for decades as the main entrance to the public building.
Purchasing Director Randy Vankirk recommended that the county commissioners reject bids, submitted late last month, for the refurbishing of the doors because the costs were much higher than expected.
Those hoping to contract with the county needed to demonstrate they had previously renovated historical property.
The six, 10-foot tall doors are 4 feet wide and 3 inches thick.
The middle set of doors are typically the ones used for public access, but all are in need of extensive repair, including kiln drying, cutting out rotted portions at bottom; replacing with a layer of mahogany; sanding, staining and new hardware.
The front entrance of the courthouse has been blocked from use since late last fall due to the shifting portico base.
The 120-year-old “Description of the New Court-House,” written in conjunction with the building’s dedication ceremony, addresses the architecture of both the recently stabilized portico and the doors:
“The upper edge of this beautiful semicircular portico is adorned with a balustrade, beneath which is a heavy cornice ornamented with corbels, and a plain frontal supported by four massive monolith sandstone columns 36 feet high, resting on granite bases, and finished with chaste Scamozzi capitals.
“Beneath the portico three handsomely arched doorways with elaborately carved lintels, between which swing massive Honduras mahogany doors, give entrance to a marble-lined vestibule within which another pair of doors, leather-covered and studded with brass, lead into a second vestibule, also marble-lined….”
The commissioners are also expecting to take action on changes to the courthouse entrance on West Cherry Avenue, which has been the sole access to the building for the public.
MacBracey Corp. has proposed installing a canvas canopy and breezeway at a cost of $46,492, and it may also have to replace two or three window sashes at the entrance that serves both the courthouse and Family Court Center.
Temperature checks and questions about potential contact with the novel coronavirus have been performed outside the West Cherry entrance since the courthouse reopened to the public in late spring.