Turning Back the Clock

Team of architects, contractors restore Capitol's glory

By Jeremy Harrell
Daily Reporter Staff

When the architects and builders charged with restoring the state Capitol in Madison first looked at the building more than 10 years ago, they saw a historic landmark covered over with piecemeal construction.

Wallboards obscured vintage painting, hasty upgrades had punched holes in the original plaster and careless caretakers had mauled the woodwork. Following a 13-year, $143 million construction project, however, the Capitol glows, with modern office infrastructure pulsing beneath carefully restored marble, wood and plaster.

"Not too many people have the opportunity to take part in that kind of project," said David Kahler, the retired president of Kahler Slater Architects Inc., Milwaukee, and project manager for East Wing Architects, the design joint venture that mapped out the project. "It's about the most important building in the state, when you think about it."

A colleague of Kahler's once described George Post's 1917 building as "rambunctious Beaux-Arts," referring to the flourishes that set the structure apart from other buildings in downtown Madison.

"Post did not give the state a building that was bland," Kahler said. "There was no vanilla."

Staff at the Department of Administration prepared a historical document for the restoration project, detailing the craftsmanship that formed the basis of the original construction project and informed the work in the reconstruction job.

Builders also peeled away the layers that clouded the original edifice to discover the colors and material used in 1917. Kahler said it was important to figure out how far to go when digging up the past.

"You had to make sure you got to the right level and didn't go too far or not far enough," he said.

Exact replica

Once the pieces were in place, general contractor J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc. went about finding workers with the specific skills to mold plaster in the 1917 fashion, rehabilitate the granite exterior and paint the building's complex play of colors. When the search failed, Cullen educated people to take on the task, said James Schumacher, the contractor's project manager.

Because the project helped train workers in techniques buried in the past, there is now a roaming band of artisans equipped with the knowledge to work on similar restoration projects, said Dan Stephans, the state's project manager.

But restoring the Capitol meant more than simply sprucing up the wainscoting and repainting ceilings, said Laura Davis, principal with Isthmus Architecture Inc., Madison, the other half of the East Wing joint venture. The Capitol is an active office building, and the inner workings of the structure needed updating - builders had to install new phone lines, an air-conditioning system and audio/visual equipment.

It helped that Post, in his original design, created large pathways behind the walls and beneath the ceilings that could accommodate the miles of wires and ducts, Davis said. When the existing building design fell short, however, the builders and designers devised innovative solutions to make the modern upgrades without disturbing the building's historic feel, she said.

"It's a challenge to use modern-day materials in a historic building without seeing the difference between the two," Davis said, explaining the craftsmen's matchless performance. "At one point, we had to remove a full wall of marble to get at the duct work beneath. You'd never know it was gone. It's really worthy of praise."

Legislative and administrative work at the Capitol never slowed during the 12-year project, thanks in part to the building's cruciform shape, Kahler said. The builders and designers could seal off and relocate one wing at a time, he said.

The staggered approach also let the designers learn from experience, Davis said. They transferred design ideas from one wing to the next and often found ways to improve upon the previous wing's work, she said.

The project came together because of the shared sense of purpose for the job, Kahler said.

"All of us who worked on it had to have a passion to do what's right for the state," he said. "I think everyone who worked on the project was highly dedicated and felt they were part of an important effort. We did it the right way."

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