Local legislators say that they support plans to renovate the state Capitol building, which is scheduled for a facelift that could cost as much as $170 million.
“We’ve got to realize that the Capitol’s the crown jewel of Springfield,” says state Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Springfield. “I’m not opposed to anything I’ve seen so far.”
Murphy and Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, say that they recently met with Andrea Aggertt, architect of the Capitol, to discuss renovation plans. Work, Aggertt told Illinois Times last month, is scheduled to start this summer, with renovations requiring offices to move out of the Capitol expected to begin next year.
“I think it’s going to happen,” Murphy said.
Renovation work already has begun at the old State Journal-Register building at 313 South Sixth Street, where Central Management Services employees now in the Stratton Building are set to move to make room for Capitol building workers who must move while work under the dome goes ahead. The north wing Capitol renovation, which involves areas occupied by the Senate and the governor’s office, is the second phase of a project that began a decade ago with renovation of the west wing, which cost $50 million and came with controversy when the state spent nearly $700,000 on three mahogany doors clad in copper. The doors, custom made to evoke the 19th century, when the Capitol was built, replaced doors fashioned from aluminum and glass that dated to the 1970s.
Murphy said that he and Butler didn’t discuss costs with Aggertt, and he’ll withhold final judgment until he sees final numbers. He also pointed out that planned renovations include safety improvements. Aggertt also has said that renovations will make the building more accessible to the disabled.
Murphy said it’s possible that CMS employees moved downtown from the Stratton Building might remain there permanently. CMS had no immediate comment. Is anyone begging to stay in the oft-maligned Stratton, which some consider less than aesthetically elegant (it’s also known for having mold and asbestos issues)? Butler didn’t directly answer.
“It’s got its own appeal, in its Soviet building sort of way,” the representative deadpanned.
The Capitol, Murphy said, shouldn’t be allowed to deteriorate like the state armory across the street. Legislators in a 2019 capital spending bill allocated $120 million to rehab the armory, which has been vacant for years. No use has been identified for the armory once it is fixed up.
Butler says he’s aware of optics: Renovating the Capitol when money’s tight and pandemic still an issue might not be universally popular, but it’s the smart move, he says.
“I want to make sure it’s maintained and taken care of for decades and decades and decades to come,” Butler said.
Renovation money, Butler said, isn’t coming from the state general fund. Rather, proceeds from gambling, particularly from a planned Chicago casino, will cover the cost.
“I think you can rightly say the Capitol building in Springfield is going to be partially funded by a casino being built in Chicago,” Butler said. “I’ll take that as a downstater.”
Once controversial from a cost standpoint – former Gov. Pat Quinn mentioned the Palace of Versailles when panning the project and cutting off money for further renovation – west wing Capitol renovations completed in 2011 won accolades from preservationists and architects. In 2014, the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects bestowed a Divine Detail Award for the doors. That same year, renovation work won Project of the Year honors from Landmarks Illinois.
The planned north wing renovation will begin with work on generators and a fire command center, Aggertt recently said. The work is expected to last between two and three years.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2021.
