The Hampshire County Courthouse, which is among the Valley’s most historic buildings, has substantial structural problems and the state must recognize the need for continued financial support to make repairs.
County officials and local legislators are correct in calling for a $4 million project to proceed during the next several years to make the building safe by fixing its foundation, walls, windows, main entrance portico and iconic tower. They made their case Friday during a tour of the 129-year-old building.
It is the fourth courthouse on the site which early settlers of Northampton called “Meeting House Hill” at the corner of Main and King streets. It sits on the ground where witch trials were held during colonial days, and where Shays’ Rebellion over tax policies and debt collection aimed at farmers started in 1786.
The county commissioners in 1886 approved a new courthouse that they promised “would last for 100 years.” Financed by an $85,000 loan, it was built of granite transported by trains and wagon from Dummerston, Vermont, and brownstone. Its 96-foot high tower affords a grand vista, including the Mount Tom range and Mount Sugarloaf. Dedicated on Dec. 10, 1887, the courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Routine court proceedings now are held in the newer building attached by a walkway to the “old” courthouse, which remains in public use as it houses the Hampshire Council of Governments and a law library. Local schools tour the building where a Paul Revere bell is displayed and mock trials are held in an upstairs courtroom.
A study of the building’s structural integrity by Boston Bay Architects in 2011 found a deteriorating foundation, mortar crumbling between the granite blocks, failing roofing materials and decaying window frames and sills.
The consultant’s report warned that conditions are worst in the tower where the interior brick wall is loose and unstable. During Friday’s tour, Todd Ford, executive director of the Council of Governments, showed a 2-foot fragment of lead flashing, shingles and a broken piece from a weather vane which he said have fallen from the tower.
Area legislators, including Senate President Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst and state Rep. Peter Kocot of Northampton, had $4 million earmarked for repairs to the courthouse in a 2014 bond bill for infrastructure improvements throughout Massachusetts. The state released $500,000 for the first phase of the renovations, which paid last year to restore the crumbling main stone staircase leading to the courthouse from Main Street and its side stairs on Gothic Street, as well as repairing a leaky roof at the front entrance.
“A proper foundation now supports both sets of stairs and the work shines as an example of what is possible for the restoration of the entire courthouse,” according to a report prepared by the Council of Governments.
That document also details the remaining work to be done over three phases: next to repair the tower, then on to “include main roof repairs and slate restoration and repointing of mortar and brownstone restoration” and the final stage to “include the stabilization of the foundation, cleaning of all stone, (and) replacing all windows to their historic type.”
But county officials are concerned that those last three phases are stalled because the state has failed to released the remaining $3.5 million from the original bond.
According to Kocot, the Baker administration has taken a measured approach to approving such capital expenses for any of the many requests to fix roads, bridges, buildings and the like. Priority is given to paying for ready-to-go repairs to existing structures which pose a public safety hazard, Kocot said.
The Hampshire County Courthouse renovation meets those criteria, and we expect Kocot and Rosenberg to continue lobbying state officials who can loosen the purse strings and finish paying for a project that will put a needed shine on this jewel of a landmark.