Repairs to close Capitol room
Old Supreme Court Chamber will get $1.2M renovation
One of the most visited rooms in the state Capitol in Little Rock will be closed this summer and fall for a renovation financed with a $1.2 million state grant.
The Old Supreme Court Chamber is on the second floor on the south end of the Capitol. Senate officials hope the project can begin by July 1, after the carpet is covered and scaffolding assembled.
The grant, awarded in May to the Senate, is from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council. The Senate had asked for $1.4 million.
State law directs the council, created in 1987, to award its funds for acquisition, management and stewardship of state-owned lands or the preservation of stateowned historic sites, buildings, structures or objects. The council also can award funds for work on objects to be determined of value for recreational or preservation purposes.
Construction of the Capitol was completed in 1915, although some government offices and legislative chambers were occupied as early as 1911, according to information included in the Senate’s grant application.
The Supreme Court relocated in 1958 to the Justice Building at 625 Marshall St., which is southwest of the Capitol.
The Old Supreme Court Chamber has been refurbished at least twice, according to records in the secretary of state’s office cited in the grant application. Once was in 1974 to accommodate its new use as a legislative committee room, and the second started in 1999 to restore it, along with the governor’s reception room.
The Senate will use funds to renovate three other Senate rooms on the south end of the Capitol at a cost of about $660,000, according to Ann Cornwell, director of the state Senate.
The project involving legislative committee rooms 171, 207 and 272 started in May, she said. Alessi Keys Construction is the contractor.
COUNCIL GRANTS FUNDS
In the latest round of applications, state agencies submitted 18 grant requests totaling $35.4 million to the council. Of those, 16 agencies were awarded grants totaling $22.7 million, according to council records. The Department of Parks and Tourism and Department of Arkansas Heritage each received $7.8 million. The departments’ directors serve on the 11-member council.
“Most applications do not receive full funding,” said Department of Arkansas Heritage spokesman Melissa Whitfield. “Based on the funding, which for this year was $22.671 million, the council determined that the Senate could do their project with $1.2 million.”
Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, who is a co-chairman of the Joint Legislative Facilities Committee, said, “We were very pleased and honored to get the grant.”
The council awarded the House of Representatives $824,000 in 2016 and then $981,000 in 2017 to help finance the renovation of legislative committee rooms 130, 138, 149 and 151 and adjoining offices on the north side of the Capitol.
“We spend a lot of money keeping the Capitol kind of looking fresh, and I don’t have any problem with it,” said Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee.
POPULAR TOURIST SPOT
Cornwell said she considers the Old Supreme Court Chamber and the governor’s conference room to be the two most visited rooms in the Capitol, receiving thousands of visitors each year.
Also, the Senate uses the room for meetings of the Revenue and Taxation Committee and the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the secretary of state’s office uses the room as a public meeting space.
Cornwell said the aim is to complete work on the Old Supreme Court Chamber by Nov. 1-15, after completing work on rooms 207 and 272 in early September and room 171 by Oct. 1.
“What is going to last so long is the painting” in the Old Supreme Court Chamber, she said. “It is time-consuming to take the paint off without destroying the plaster.”
The Senate’s grant application states that “the paint on the ornamental portions of the plaster work began to fail several years ago, resulting in the peeling of the paint surfaces throughout the ceiling and wall ornamental areas.
“The existing paints on the ornamental plaster will require removal with mild chemical strippers to prevent damaging the original plaster detailing, preparation of plaster surfaces, and then replication of the original paint finishes.”
The room also has temperature problems with its climate-control system and needs ultraviolet-resistant glazing in windows to reduce heat gain, according to the Senate’s grant application.
“In the wintertime it is cold, and in the summertime it is hot, and we seem to never be able to regulate that,” said Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs. “Our sound system is horrible.”
Cornwell said the heat and air conditioning problems and the sound system will be fixed as part of the renovation.
“Once they get in there, they can install the speakers. That’s why you see them sitting out,” she said.
The secretary of state’s office had new exterior windows installed in the Old Supreme Court room in April, said Chris Powell, a spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin.
SEATING, SOUND CHANGES
Plans for room 171, where the Senate Judiciary Committee meets, include reducing the seating for lawmakers from 67 to about 24 and adding an office and a small conference room.
The room was last modified in 1995 to accommodate the largest committees, the Legislative Council and Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, Cornwell said. Those meetings were moved to another building in 2008.
In room 207, where the Senate Education Committee meets, the chairman will sit on the south end rather than the north end, and the audience will be relocated from the south end to the north end to allow for the installation of fiber-optic cable without extensive construction, according to the Senate’s grant application. A low divider wall will be constructed behind the chairman for the sound system, printers and other equipment.
And in room 272, where the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee meets, an existing office and support room are being redesigned to accommodate sound system equipment, beverage items and document storage.
Meanwhile, on the north side of the building, House officials hope to complete a renovation project that started in April to replace decades-old desks, chairs and carpet in the House chamber, followed by upgrading electrical and voting equipment by mid-October, said House spokesman Cecillea PondMayo. The estimated cost of the project is $1.05 million, she said.