Kearney County Courthouse
Scope of Work
Tower Restoration
Restoring the steel and cast iron tower and dome.
Project Completion
This project is currently underway.
The History
Kearney County Courthouse, circa 1907
Designed by George Berlinghof
Location
Minden, NE
The Challenge
The project began with an assessment of rust on the interior and exterior of the courthouse tower. Upon visiting the site, it was immediately clear the scope of the project would be well beyond that of a standard paint job.
The structural system of the tower is unusual, there are no columns existing inside and the metal skin of the nearly 60-ft tower is self-supporting. Unique is the inclusion of cast iron elements to connect some of the steel structure and add reinforcement around fenestration, alongside the cast iron ornamentation.
The tower has insufficient ventilation and condensation occurs frequently. Rust exist on most of the horizontal steel connections as well as many of the vertical joints. Because of the unique structural system, utilizing the exterior skin as the support, removing and replacing rusting structural components becomes dangerous to the structure.
The Strategy
In order to begin understanding its condition, we enlisted the help of Digital Sky to take over 4000 high resolution drone photos of the tower. We then used these photos as reference points to create a comprehensive 3D model.
This model, detailed down to the rivets, allows us to not only understand how the structure comes together, but also shows us the failures in the steel and iron connect points that are allowing moisture penetration.
We are working with the structural engineer to design an internal scaffolding system which would take the weight of the steel skin and allow the contractor to remove and repair individual pieces of the exterior structure without the tower facing collapsing.
Recently added to the team is Allen Architectural metals, contractor for the U.S. Capitol Dome restoration among other significant projects, to develop a cost estimate while we pursue funding sources from the local, state, and national level.
The Results
This project is currently underway.
Related Projects
Our Process
We listen to you
We are preservation architects, let’s get together and talk about your project. Once we know your ideas, we can start your project in the right directions.
We involve you in the planning