RICHMOND — Take a good look at the lush green slope of Capitol Square, framed by floral spring splendor and capped by Thomas Jefferson’s 200-year-old “Temple on the Hill.”
Bulldozers and backhoes are about to chew up the nationally renowned vista.
Within days, work will begin in earnest stripping the historic but ailing Capitol to its essence, installing new systems while reviving the architectural grandeur Jefferson designed.
The $190 million project, approved by the General Assembly in 2003 with a mandate to finish by the state’s 2007 quadricentennial, involves wholesale renovations of several deteriorating Capitol Square buildings and the working Capitol that is its centerpiece.
“There’s no need to do extravagant things. If you do more on the building than you need, you will probably damage the building,” said George C. Skarmeas, director of historic preservation for Philadelphia’s Hillier architectural firm and lead project designer.
The General Assembly, governor’s office, legislative and executive staff and support services will move out of the Capitol a year from now and relocate in the old State Library a few hundred feet away.
During that time, crews will overhaul the Capitol, the derelict 100-year-old Finance Building adjacent to the Capitol and Executive Mansion and the 12-story, 79-year-old Washington Building in the square’s southeastern corner.
The square’s most prominent change will be a new primary public entryway off Bank Street that serves as Capitol Square’s southern perimeter. It will resemble the Temple of Temperance in Bremo, Va., a Greek-styled structure influenced by Jefferson. It will open into a new underground extension that enters the Capitol beneath the marble steps of the South Portico into what was the front entrance before the steps were constructed.
The subterranean development will include a reception area, legislative staff offices, committee meeting rooms, a cafe and work space for journalists. Aside from its entry structure, the vista from the front lawn will be the same one Jefferson envisioned in 1790 as a temple on the hill, Mr. Skarmeas said.
Designers immediately rejected the idea of cluttering the scenic square and ruining its historical framework with a new above-ground structure.
“Capitol Square, in our opinion, is one of the most significant urban parks in America,” said Mr. Skarmeas, who is overseeing renovations to the U.S. Supreme Court building. “We wanted to respect the temple-on-the-hill image.”
A trailer encampment that serves as headquarters for contractors and architects went up last weekend. Before long, Mr. Skarmeas said, the Capitol will become a hard-hat zone with access possible only through shielded walkways.
The Capitol is in dire need of work, Mr. Skarmeas said. Excessive moisture is pervasive throughout the structure and threatens its very integrity. Its electrical, telecommunications, heating and cooling ventilation systems are hopelessly outdated. The last major renovation was 100 years ago, when east and west wings for the House and Senate chambers were added to the central structure.
“We need to think of the project as major surgery and very carefully remove the sick tissue and very carefully replace it,” Mr. Skarmeas said.
Testing and research on the building also revealed some pleasant surprises, he said. At the heart of the portico’s white columns are the original wooden support columns that were part of Jefferson’s initial design. The millwork in the Rotunda is also from the Jeffersonian period.
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