News that the Old Courthouse -- home of The Lexington History Museum -- was shut down on Friday, July 13, because of “dangerously high levels of lead” came as a shock to most. This Richardson Romanesque structure has been a part of the downtown Lexington streetscape for 112 years, and home to the Museum for nearly nine. The thought that it could be permanently closed is, well, unthinkable.
To those of us working in the building, however, the news was not only long in coming, but, in some ways, a relief.
Some perspective: In 1999, the Urban County Government entered into a settlement with the Commonwealth of Kentucky over the demolition of the Snyder Furniture Block (site of the new Courthouses), whereby, among other obligations, the city committed to “expend a minimum [emphasis added] of one million dollars ($1,000,000) to convert the current Fayette County Courthouse to the Lexington History Museum with the grounds of the current courthouse to be transformed into a park.” In fact, only $800,000 was spent to convert the building. The renovation addressed the first three floors, but left the fourth floor, the basement, and the dome intact. More on that in a moment.
Shortly after the Museum opened in Oct. 2003, a federal grant was secured to repair extensive damage to the veranda foundation cause by shrubbery roots. Still, the “bones” of the structure (its foundation, walls, and roof) went largely unattended.
In the summer of 2009, city engineers recognized a portion of the basement that juts out under the Short St. sidewalk was collapsing. The temporary fix was to fence off that portion of the sidewalk so vehicles could not park there.
About the same time, the city advised the Museum that because of lead and asbestos in the dome, that area was closed to the public.
Finally, in May 2012 mold was discovered in a first floor gallery of the Lexington Public Safety Museum (an independent operation). Inspection for the mold led to the discovery that lead permeated the surfaces of the entire building. The belief is that the lead in the dome was being pulled through the rest of the building by the action of the elevators. Be that as it may, the Division of General Services made the decision to shut the building to the public on Friday the Thirteenth.
The Museum remains open online at www.lexingtonhistorymuseum.org, with an extensive historic postcard collection searchable by topic. Virtual tours of the Museum exhibits will be developed to enhance the online visitor experience. An action plan developed in 2008 when the Museum was a priority T.I.F. project associated with the Centre Pointe development is being executed to identify a nearby space for temporary operations and exhibits.
As I write these words, however, I am sitting in my third floor office in the Old Courthouse. The Museum manager is working on a new exhibit in her office on the second floor. Are we worried or concerned? About the building? Yes. About our health, not one bit. The manager has two small children who, of all the children in Lexington have been in this building more than any others, were tested negative for lead. There is no lead in the air; only on surfaces. So, it becomes more of a wash-your-hands and wipe-your-feet situation.
Museum management intends to use the building contamination and closing as an alarm bell: a wake-up call to the community with an emotional impact that becomes a rallying point to “Save the Old Courthouse!”
Where to start? Ironically, in the same week the Courthouse was closed, Mayor Jim Gray announced that Lexington would participate in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “Mayor’s Challenge” funded by Bloomberg’s private foundation. The idea is “to search for creative local solutions to national problems.” The top project receives $5 million; four other projects will get $1 million each.
According to Mayor Gray, "The prize money would be great, but any way you look at the Mayor's Challenge, it's a win-win for Lexington. We'll gather good ideas that represent opportunity and challenge."
Opportunity? Challenge? How about lead paint abatement in important historic buildings? That is a local problem that most certainly is occurring on a national scale.
But why is the Old Courthouse so important? According to Mayor Gray, it is as iconic to Lexington as the Wrigley Building is to Chicago. According to Jim Clark, president & CEO of LexArts, the dome is “one of the unique interior spaces in Fayette County.”
Lead abatement is just the tip of the iceberg in renovating, restoring, and modernizing the Old Courthouse.
Plans the Museum had drawn up in 1999 (see drawing) call for a complete restoration of the original interior design, including the open staircase whereby a visitor could stand on the ground floor and look up 112 feet to the underside of the dome.
With restaurants, bars and nightlife now all but surrounding this impressive, historic structure and a new 21c Hotel soon to appear on the scene, restoration of the Old Courthouse as a cultural anchor and showpiece, now more than ever, seems essential to the completion of a rejuvenated downtown Lexington.
Jamie Millard is President and CEO of the Lexington History Museum