ALBANY — The Capitol Courtyard is getting a facelift.
Since June, workers have been buzzing around the courtyard, which functions as the innermost chamber of the lofty New York State Capitol. The project aims to transform the courtyard’s “floor” – which is actually a roof covering the building’s critical infrastructure, according to the Office of General Services, which is managing the project.
Underneath the roof? Electrical equipment and control panels that keep the Capitol powered, heated and supplied with hot water.
The roof will be replaced with a new membrane, as will the roof and wall panels of the Hawk Street Passage. And in a testament to the original architect’s vision of the courtyard, the roof will be repaved with new bluestone, according to the Office of General Services.
The courtyard’s ornate walls will also get a deep clean, while the Hawk Street passage windows will be restored. And as the pièce de résistance, the courtyard will be “visually enhanced” with planter beds that will feature drought-resistant perennial plants native to New York.
Georgina Parsons, OGS associate commissioner for communications, said in an email that the task of renovating and refurbishing the courtyard was included as part of the state’s 2021 budget. The project is expected to cost the state $9.1 million, Parsons said.
“The roofs are being replaced because they were all past their serviceable lifetime,” Parsons said in an email, adding that the roofing was “leaking over the electrical switchgear which serves and provides power to the Capitol.”
According to the OGS, the courtyard’s roof is highly susceptible to water damage. Rain can seep through the membrane and leak onto the equipment housed below. That damage could potentially wipe out Capitol’s HVAC or hot water systems.
Additionally, some of the copper-covered portions of the roof – now 120 years old – can no longer be repaired because of their age, prompting the material overhaul.
The first architect for the Capitol – which was completed over a span of 30 years in the late 19th century – envisioned a walking surface over the roof, the OGS said. And the central courtyard functioned not only as a thru-way to access the four corners of the building, but as a lighting and ventilation system. The courtyard also serves as a point of reference for visitors to navigate the Capitol.
The project is split into two phases, the first of which began in June and is expected to wrap up by December of this year. Phase two will begin in July 2023 and run until December 2023, the office said. Officials estimate that the project should be completed by March 25, 2024.
Also included in the 2021 budget was a $41 million proposal to repair the Capitol’s crumbling Eastern Approach, the storied staircase which has been in a perpetual state of disrepair since at least the 1950s, the Times Union has previously reported. The Eastern Approach’s structural deterioration has similarly been chalked up to water issues, specifically leakage.
The work is the latest of years of intermittent renovations to the historic Capitol building. The most recent exhaustive restoration project began in 1996, in an attempt to address chronic leakage problems.
The Office of General Services is concurrently working on a few other projects around the Capitol, Parsons said, including working on the Empire State Plaza’s terrazzo sidewalks and the plumbing system that fills the reflecting pool. Both are expected to wrap up within the next 12 months, according to the office.