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Volume 39, No.14 |
Old Capitol's recovery stage requires patience, precision
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| Photo by Kirk Murray |
Work proceeds on two fronts in the restoration of Old Capitol, the Pentacrest landmark that lost its dome in a Nov. 20 fire. The first is a proposal to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, for approval of a plan for restoring the 160-year-old building. The regents will receive that report on May 17.
The second front is a delicate continuing process to keep the interior temperature and humidity steady despite the vagaries of Iowa springtime weather so that the museum’s interior may dry without damaging wood floors, walls, and the museum’s historic reverse spiral staircase.
“It’s rather challenging,” says Ann Smothers, director of Old Capitol Museum. “You’ll notice that we have the shutters closed. In the winter, they block the cold. In the summer, they keep sunlight from heating up the interior.”
Smothers says workers try to keep the museum between 60 and 70 degrees in temperature with a 35 to 45 percent humidity rate. They use sensors, window air conditioners on the ground floor, the building’s systems on the first floor, and an antique system on the second floor.
“It’s one of our most critical issues since day one,” she says. “In high humidity, wood puffs and so does wooden furniture. We must dry it without damaging it, and that moves very slowly.”
For Smothers, it’s a series of “re” words: “The drying out is recovery stage,” she says. “The historical research phase has been completed by OPN Architects, Inc., of Cedar Rapids and Einhorn Yaffee Prescott of Boston. Now we will go to the regents and then begin restoring and rebuilding.”
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