BOSTON – Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar on Friday, July 25 will visit Boston’s Old State House to mark the completion of the initial phase of the restoration of the Old State House. This vital preservation work, which represents the first completed construction project of the National Park Service Centennial Initiative, brings to a close the structural stabilization phase of the Society’s master plan for the Old State House.
The National Park Centennial Initiative is a 10-year program to reinvigorate America’s national parks for a second century of conservation, preservation and enjoyment. The National Park Service will mark its centennial on August 25, 2016. Congress this year, in response to the President’s Centennial Challenge, appropriated $24.6 million to be matched by donations for Centennial Challenge programs and projects.
| Who: | Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne National Park Service Director Mary Bomar Terry Savage, Superintendent, Boston National Historical Park Brian LeMay, Executive Director, Bostonian Society James W. Hunt III, Boston Chief of Environmental and Energy Services |
| What: | Completion of initial phase of restoration of Old State House |
| When: | Friday, July 25, 11:00 a.m. |
| Where: | Plaza outside the Old State House |
| Note: | The goal of the project was to finish sealing the building against water penetration, which recently has caused substantial damage throughout this 300-year-old structure. (An earlier project stabilized the northeast
corner in 2006.) Over the past several months, the Society has restored the building’s tower —a much-photographed symbol of Boston—restored masonry in several locations, and repaired or replaced damaged window frames.
The dome and weathervane atop the tower were re-gilded, restoring them to their 18th-century splendor. Inside, the climate control system has been upgraded and modernized to make it operationally efficient and provide a stable environment for the valuable collections housed in the building. |