PEORIA, Ill. – They’re taking a few weeks off, but crews have in recent weeks worked to give at least part of Peoria City Hall a facelift.
Some parts of the Lake Superior Sandstone exterior of the historic building are getting restored, after wear and tear caused pieces to either fall off or deteriorate.
“Maintaining a building at this age is kind of an ongoing responsibility,” said Stacy Peterson, Strategic Communications Manager, City of Peoria. “We’re always looking at how we can make sure that they’re keeping it in great shape.”
Peterson says in the first round of restoration, only from ground level and going 16 feet up will be fixed.
And, you might say history will be helping history in getting the project done.
“You can tell that they are keeping with the rustic nature of the building,” said Peterson. “They come in large blocks, because these replacement pieces are actually from the old downtown Bergner’s store. When that store closed in 1997 and was torn down, the city took over all the surplus bricks, and now we use them to do these replacement pieces.”
The city, Peterson says, has a surplus yard where the sandstone pieces came from.
Work is expected to be done in the spring, but there is one problem. Peterson says there are supply chain issues that are impacting the work.
The first round of restoration is only costing the city $50,000.
The sandstone at the top of this picture represents material in deteriorated condition. The bottom two rows of sandstone represent just-restored sandstone. (Will Stevenson/1470 & 100.3 WMBD)
