HUDSON – Hudson’s historic Town Hall is in line for a facelift.
Executive Assistant Thomas Moses’ proposed capital plan – which is a part of the annual budget – calls for spending $352,000 to repair Town Hall’s aging brick façade. Town Meeting will discuss and vote on the capital plan in May.
Portions of Town Hall’s brickwork are coming undone and the window frames need to be replaced to allow for the future installation of new energy-efficient windows, said Moses.
“If you let it go on and on it will cost millions,” he said.
Last spring, Town Meeting signed off on spending $378,000 to install new cornice and flashing on the crumbling roof. The slate roof, which was last repaired in the 1980s, sustained extensive damage from the weight of heavy snow and ice in the winter of 2015. The damage included rotting dormers and broken flashing, which led to leaks.
“It put in jeopardy all the wonderful work we did on the interior,” said Moses. The inside of the Town Hall was renovated several years ago.
The work on the cornice and flashing is expected to commence this spring. Town officials planned to put the project out to bid in 2017, but decided to wait until the spring because the work is expected to take about four months and would not be finished by winter.
The timing of the project benefits the town in another way. Scaffolding must be erected so workers can make the façade and roof repairs, and the town will save a significant amount of money if it is used for both projects.
“We didn’t want to start the roof work, put up the scaffolding, take it down and put it up again for the masonry work,” said Moses.
Moses anticipates some parking spaces at the rear of Town Hall will be temporarily unavailable during construction.
The two projects are part of a six-year rehabilitation plan for Town Hall, which was built in 1872. The plan also includes exterior painting, gutter work, brick and granite cleaning and new windows.
A study was conducted on the nearly 150-year-old building in 2014 and determined roof upgrades, masonry repairs and a new heating, ventilating and air conditioning system were needed. Town officials believe the improvements will keep the building fresh for decades to come.
The town recently replaced the aging HVAC system and the more than 30-year-old boilers. The manufacturer no longer made the boilers and town officials could not find replacement parts for them, said Moses.
The three-story brick building mimics the French Second Empire style popular in the late 1800s, complete with a mansard roof.
The last major renovation of Town Hall was completed more than 15 years ago. At that time an elevator was added. and the third floor, which hadn't been used for about 40 years, was made accessible.
"The building inside is beautiful," said Moses.
Jeff Malachowski can be reached at 508-490-7466 or jmalachowski@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @JmalachowskiMW.