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Courthouse restoration continues [Gainesville Daily Register, Texas](Gainesville Daily Register (TX) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 05--GAINESVILLE -- County officials say they're certain nothing will impede October's grand opening of the restored historic courthouse. "Certainly anything can change, certainly anything can slow that down," County Judge John Roane said Thursday. "But I'm anticipating that it should be October." Workers spent Thursday putting touches on a new ceiling in the overhauled district courtroom, which boasts fresh primary paint plus the beginnings of a jury platform and judges bench. Roane also said the giant hearing hall will soon have a video projector and screen for evidence presentations. The building's two courtroom spaces show the most evidence of completion. And Roane added despite minor "change order" alterations to the project through the months, it hasn't gone past budget. "We expected, as the project unfolded, that there would be areas that could not be anticipated during the planning phase of this," he said. "But it's about what we anticipated and each and every one of them were necessary and needed." The restoration is aided by Texas Historical Commission funding of nearly $4 million. It's allowed Roane and Pct. 4 Commissioner Leon Klement to oversee the expansion of the building's offices and courtrooms; add new paint, mouldings and fire sprinklers; and perform a re-vamp of the wiring, heating and cooling systems. One room will be entirely dedicated to computer servers. Under the conditions of the grant, the restoration must resemble the building's 1911 grand opening as much as possible. The funding was approved in 2008, after years of waiting, and the result is looking suitably close to the design earlier officials had proposed. "It's looking the way it was planned," Roane said. "But I think all of us are somewhat amazed to see it come to fruition in that it goes beyond what we thought just from looking at plans. When you look at corbels and paint on the walls and woodwork and the various actual things that were planned and now actually are visible? Then to me, anyway, it's more pronounced than what you would get from a set of plans." Earlier officials in charge of the project have included former county judge Belvin Harris and Pct. 4 commissioner Virgil Hess, who died in 2008. Hess had seen to much of the courthouse's exterior renovations. Following his death, Klement co-inherited his restoration duties. During a January tour of the courthouse project, Klement revealed an obscure upper-level wall covered in name scrawls, some of them decades old. One was Virgil Hess. "As well it should be," Roane said Thursday. "He should certainly go down as one of the main contributors to the success of the court restoration. It was very important to him and he put a lot of effort into it." The judge said the October finish will include a ceremony celebrating not only the restoration but the building's 100th birthday. The ceremony details are still tentative, but Roane said they will include acknowledgment of the earlier county officials who oversaw the project through the years -- with Hess high on the list. "This project meant so much to him and I wish he were still here to see it to completion," Roane said. ___ To see more of the Gainesville Daily Register or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gainesvilleregister.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, Gainesville Daily Register, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544) |