The historic North Carolina State Capitol building closed to the public May 3 for major construction and repair work, and will remain shuttered until further notice, according to the state's Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDCR).
Completed in 1840, the Capitol building is a National Historic Landmark.
Crews are working to replace copper on the structure's distinctive roof and dome, update the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and repair deteriorating mortar and stone on the building's exterior.
The work is expected to take 12 to 15 months to complete and is being managed by the N.C. General Assembly's Legislative Services Office.
New Capitol Dome Will Be Most Visible Rehab
This marks the third roof replacement in the old Capitol's history. The original copper covering of the dome was first replaced in 1888. By the late 1960s, the roof was deteriorating again, which led to the state General Assembly appropriating funds for a new roof in 1971 and recycling the old copper into souvenir jewelry.
When complete, the Capitol's new roof will at first be shiny like a new penny because the signature green color will take years to return as the new copper oxidizes, NCDCR noted. This process can take 10 to 20 years, depending on the weather.
Before the advent of modern HVAC systems, 28 fireplaces warmed the Capitol's offices and legislative chambers. In the spring and summer months, open windows gave office workers relief from the heat. Central air conditioning for the House and Senate Chambers was installed in the late 1950s.
This year, the air conditioning units on the roof will be moved into the building's attic spaces, providing the exterior with a more attractive and historically accurate look.
The Capitol's exterior stone is a variety of granite called gneiss which was quarried by a team of enslaved and free men from a state-owned quarry about a mile southeast of Raleigh's Capitol Square. In recent years, some gneiss on the building's exterior had begun to crumble and flake away. During the current project, historic stone and masonry experts will clean, stabilize and repair exterior stone blocks and repoint mortar joints.
Building Demolitions Will Put State Workers On the Move
But the renovation of the State Capitol building is only the first in a series of projects in downtown Raleigh that will result in thousands of state employees moving to new offices in the next few years, the Raleigh News & Observer reported recently.
Two buildings in the North Carolina state government complex are slated for demolition, and a new education campus is proposed to be built where one now exists.
But as in other areas of North Carolina politics, what the legislative branch wants and what the executive branch wants stand in stark contrast.
Last year's state budget, which put the Legislative Services Office in charge of the planned building demolitions and construction, calls for the two demolitions to take place by this fall.
Mark Edwards, chief deputy secretary at the state Department of Administration (NCDOA), one of Gov. Roy Cooper's cabinet agencies and which previously controlled those buildings, called the budget's demolition timeline "dangerously aggressive."
Plans Being Formed for a State Government Complex
Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble told the News & Observer in an interview that the plan is to try to shrink the footprint of state government buildings, most of which were built in the 1960s.
Coble, a former Raleigh mayor and Wake County commissioner, oversees some state government buildings, with more added in the past two state budgets. That shifted control of the Capitol dome replacement project and the demolition of the nearby Bath Building and Administration Building to the Legislative Services Office from NCDOA.
Additionally, building the new education campus on the site of the demolished Administration building also will be controlled by Legislative Services.
The 2022 state budget slated the Administration and Bath buildings to be demolished by the end of this October.
Bath Building Seen as an Ugly Structure
The Bath Building, which housed office space for N.C.'s Department of Health and Human Services, also will be torn down this year. It has sat mostly empty for years and is widely considered to be an eyesore. Once cleared away of debris, the land will be turned into green space to complement North Carolina Freedom Park, currently under construction across the street.
Coble said the building will be the first to come down — possibly as early as this summer — and the easiest to empty, as fewer than 50 people are working there now. Some floors have not been used in years.
However, NCDOA's Edwards said the Bath Building demolition will start in the fourth quarter of the year.
Before Demos, Many State Workers to Shift Offices
He told the News & Observer that a series of dominoes must fall before any demolitions can take place.
For one, the State Auditor's Office, which is now in the Old Revenue Building across from the Capitol on Salisbury Street, will move to the fourth and fifth floors of the Albermarle Building. That building, which houses the Department of Insurance, was renovated in 2018. Work should be completed in the coming months for the Auditor's Office.
Edwards described the Administration Building as a "tank" and "bomb shelter." Its basement is the former home of the state's Emergency Operations Center, which moved into a new building in West Raleigh in 2011.
Now the basement holds significant IT equipment for the state government, he noted. Other floors are home to the Governor's Office, NCDOA offices, the Office of State Budget and Management — planning to move to the Old Revenue Building — and the Office of State Human Resources.
Everyone working in those offices will have to move out, the Raleigh news source reported, but exactly when is still unknown. The budget, which is state law, has decreed the Administration Building must come down by the end of October.
In a January interview with the News & Observer, State Budget Director Kristin Walker said she thought they would be out of the building by July, and Coble said the governor's office would move into the Albermarle Building by July, while the rest of the staff moves would be decided by that agency.
Edwards, though, said there is no timeline for an Administration Building move and although he has repeatedly noted his office is moving at "all deliberate pace," they have no plans yet to clear out of the building.
New Education Building Also Planned
Once the NCDOA building is demolished, a new education campus building will be built in the same spot. That new campus will include:
- The UNC System Office, which was earlier moved from Chapel Hill to Raleigh. It is currently in rented space in The Dillon building in downtown Raleigh.
- The state's Community Colleges Office. Currently, this department works in a nearby building at 200 W. Jones St.
- The N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI). It is now in its own building on Halifax Mall behind the Legislative Building. Once the agency leaves the building, it will need to be renovated or eventually torn down, according to Coble.
- The N.C. Department of Commerce. Its employees are temporarily working in the DPI building.
What's Next for Other Government Buildings?
Coble said a recent study of other North Carolina State government buildings showed that the Archdale Building, where the Department of Public Safety is housed, could eventually be demolished.
He acknowledged that the architecture of the oft-maligned Bath and Archdale buildings "just didn't age well," while adding the Archdale is "under heavy scrutiny to just be eliminated," but there is no plan for that yet.
Nor has there been further discussion about constructing a building solely for the governor's office on land that is now the surface parking lot across from the state Museum of History.
Edwards, who is working with Coble on the planned employee shifts and building changes, said state employees should "be patient" as plans move forward as there are a lot of moving parts.
For his part, Coble told the News & Observer that all the state building changes in downtown Raleigh are in flux, due to their being dependent on funding.
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