Drafty situation
Cohoes ponders replacing 330 windows in historic City Hall.
Figuring out the cost to replace one window in home can be excruciating. Now, imagine replacing 330 historic windows.
Cohoes City Hall has placed city officials in that position as they calculate how to replace or repair the 330 drafty windows that let heat out and let the snow in. One window recently blew out of an upper story smashing to the ground. Luckily no one walking past the building was hit.
Mayor Bill Keeler saw the snow firsthand Dec. 17 inside his conference room. The snow was piled up on the inside windowsill as well as outside.
“The building has been neglected for so long. You can see daylight through the sides of the windows,” Keeler said.
While windows in typical buildings might last 30 years, the ones at City Hall date back 126 years. “The majority of these are original. They’ve lasted pass their lifespan,” Keeler said.
Walking around the perimeter of City Hall built in 1895 is a chance to view its fortress-like grandeur but also
to notice that a few windows are missing and boarded up while many to have a tenuous hold in their frames.
“We need to make every effort,” Keeler said about restoring City Hall.
Looking out the windows from inside is to find many are barely set in their frames. The light streams as easily through the cracks between the walls and the windows as it does through the glass. There are temporary repairs and emergency storm windows fitted inside to keep out the wind and rain and snow.
City Hall’s 330 windows, masonry and slate roof are targeted to be fixed under the Restore Historic Cohoes program. The Cohoes Public Library and the Cohoes Music Hall are part of the three public buildings whose repairs and renovations anchor the restoration of the city’s historic downtown. The city made repairs to City Hall in 2020 after masonry
fell off the building.
“It’s a beautiful building. It’s what makes the cities of Cohoes and Troy so attractive. They have the architecture,” said Keeler looking up at City Hall’s five-story bell tower at the corner of Mohawk and Ontario streets.
The city is setting aside $3 million for its historic repairs. The
money would come from the $9 million in energy savings the city expects to achieve over 20 years by switching the street lights to LEDS under the Cleaner Greener Cohoes initiative. Keeler said the city would use the money to leverage federal and state grants to upgrade City Hall.
The Common Council
made the first move when it voted Feb. 23 to hire C.T. Male for $52,795 to assess the state of the 330 windows.
The contract includes $8,640 for evaluating the window replacement, $38,220 to mock up the replacement windows, $4,435 for lead and asbestos abatement and $1,500 for air monitoring.