Saturday, November 3, 2012

Was It or Wasn't It?


The old courthouse annex has been demolished in preparation for building a new addition to the Warren and Wetmore designed Columbia County courthouse. Nathan Mayberg has the story in today's Register-Star: "Courthouse renovations under way." 

The article points out that the annex was part of the previous courthouse, designed by Henry S. Moul and built in 1900, which survived the fire that destroyed the rest of the courthouse in 1907. It also indicates that the building demolished contained an iron spiral staircase, which the project manager from Lothrop Associates first said would be preserved, later said had been demolished, and finally said had been partially preserved.

2 comments:

  1. Nathan Mayberg/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
    (caption under photo)
    "Knock it down

    Work on the dismantling of the older section of the courthouse began this week
    by Visage Construction Corporation of Germantown.
    The portion of the building that is currently being demolished
    was a survivor of the fire that took the previous courthouse.
    It has been used to store records.'
    ___________________


    Posted: Saturday, November 3, 2012 12:30 am
    By Nathan Mayberg Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
    EXCERPT:
    '............Included in that demolition was a spiral iron staircase,
    dating back to the 1908 courthouse,.......
    The staircase had the stamping of the West Side Foundry Company of Troy
    on each stair leading to the second floor.

    Project manager Rick Thoma, who works for the architectural firm Lothrop Associates,
    had said earlier in the week that the staircase would be preserved,
    but on Friday said the staircase had been demolished,
    and then said part of it had been preserved."
    ------------------------------------
    my comment( AH , Lothrop Assoc. must have read "T.Eric Galloway's Guide to Historic Preservation" These next 2 sentences ,say it all)
    --------------------------------------------
    "He said a new staircase would be built in the image of the original.
    He said the iron staircase
    had “no significance to it,”
    except that it was from an old foundry."

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