A new look for a downtown landmark
Preservation group receives restoration funding
By Debbie Lowe Staff writer

The building's faade is slated for restoration to replicate the one in this 1915 photo. Funding for the project was awarded to the preservation group by DNR. Photo provided by DPS

Last October the Delphi Preservation Society, Inc. (DPS) submitted a grant proposal to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' 2006 Historic Preservation Fund. The group needed the money to restore the faade of the old Delphi City Hall Building, which later became the opera house.

DPS was awarded $18,375 to rehabilitate the faade of the building last week. The group is responsible for equal match money from local sources, according to DPS president Lynn Corson.

DNR recently awarded 21 federal grants for historic preservation to 18 Indiana communities. The grants, totaling more than $505,000, provide a match of more than $429,000 in local and state funds, for a total projected investment of $935,000.

The local project will restore the faade to its 1880s appearance. The restoration will include:

+ Replacement of the 1950's flat 39-foot metal roof awning covering the entire width of the sidewalk with a historicallyappropriate, fabric-covered, mechanically-retractable awning extending over one storefront faade; + Replacement of the 1960's wood shake roof entrance to another s t o r e f r o n t with the same type of awning;

The old Delphi City Hall building, owned by the Delphi Preservation Society, Inc., is missing molding, some windows are broken out and painted over and it has a variety of mismatched awnings over the sidewalk. Comet photo by Debbie Lowe

+ Addition of

replicas of the

original pendants to existing brackets supporting the third-floor exterior balcony;

+ Repair wood frames and muntins of the wood windows on the second and third-floor west faade;

+ Fabrication, installation, and painting cornices, brackets and molding on the roofline north of the center peak; and

+ Repair, scraping and repainting the soffit, brackets and dentil molding on the center peak and roofline south of the center peak.

The project will begin June 1, and end June 30, 2007.

"We're very excited about the project and we can't wait to unveil the final product," DPS board member and Opera House Task Force chair Anita Werling said. "Once the project is completed, it will add a whole new look to the downtown business district."