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The second phase of interior Luzerne County Courthouse restoration is underway.
County Manager C. David Pedri signed a $527,645 contract last month with Brooklyn-based EverGreene Architectural Arts Inc. to complete this work, which will address all artwork and finishes in the remaining first-floor foyer and hallways.
Connecticut-based John Canning Co. had completed the first $2.13 million phase last year, restoring the rotunda and south foyer.
The current EverGreene project will include work on extensive mosaic sections largely intact but dirty and murals that were inaccurately touched up during a past restoration, covering the original intent, said county assistant engineer Larry Plesh.
The mosaic on the vaulted ceilings frames 56 portraits painted by the Italian-born Vincent Aderente showcasing dignitaries and others who played a role in county history.
As in the first-phase work, the contractor is removing tiny test samples of “overpainting” on murals to determine what original colors and design are underneath, Plesh said.
At some point in the 1960s, an artist with good intentions had repainted artwork and applied varnish to all the original paintings, preventing restoration today, officials have said.
As a result, some of the murals have inaccurate anatomy and skin tones and harsh added shadows that erased the original elegance and softness of fabric draped over figures, a John Canning representative told council last year. Courthouse visitors will find “weird things” in remaining artwork that had been painted over and has not been restored, including a figure with a missing foot, another with two left feet and some with unusually muscular arms, the representative said.
Plesh said EverGreene will follow the protocol of John Canning by creating reproductions of the originals and placing the replicas over the past-altered originals with removable adhesive.
Removing overpainting would be cost prohibitive, and some of the originals had been sanded down, Plesh said. Keeping the originals intact may open the door to future preservation many years from now if new techniques and funding became available.
“The goal is to get back to how the artwork and finishes looked originally,” Plesh said.
The courthouse opened in 1909.
EverGreene’s work, which is targeted for completion this August, also will clean the marble and wood finishes.
While restoration on the upper floors has not yet been funded, EverGreene’s contract includes work on two sections of the second-floor ceiling that have visible plaster damage from past leaks, Plesh said.
One courtroom judge’s bench also will be restored as a test case to help gauge the results and other logistics that must be considered if all courtrooms are restored in the future. The county and court administration have not yet identified which bench will be in this phase.
The ornate, wood judicial benches are damaged and dirty from decades of use.
“You could feel a film on them from the last 100 years,” said Plesh.
The administration eliminated an optional second phase project to remove a rotunda booth that once housed telephone operators and later security staff, Plesh said. That work would have added $62,000 to the project cost for both the removal and restoration of the space to its original appearance, the contract said.
Project awards
Pedri announced the first restoration phase has received a second honor — the 2019 Palladio Award for craftsmanship.
The Philadelphia chapter of the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture had granted the project a prestigious Trumbauer Award in 2018.
Palladio Awards honor work that enhances the beauty and “humane qualities” of traditional design, according to an online posting of the award sponsor — Active Interest Media, publisher of the Traditional Building and Period Homes magazines. It noted a record-breaking number of entrants from across the country sought the award.
Like John Canning, EverGreene has extensive restoration experience, Pedri said.
“We’re bringing in the best people to upkeep our courthouse,” said Pedri. “It’s important because we are the stewards of this beautiful building and are going to make sure it is maintained for generations to come.”