Historic courthouse repairs near completion

Janet Imrick
Randolph Hub

ASHEBORO – The Historic Randolph County Courthouse does not look that different until you walk around to the east side facing the new courthouse, where you can see a tall wall of green-tinted glass containing the new elevator shaft.

County staff are hopeful the elevator will be operational when the Board of Commissioners resume meetings in the courthouse on Nov. 4, the first time they will hold their regular meeting in the courthouse this year. The elevator underwent a second inspection on Oct. 28. Engineer Paxton Arthurs said the inspector told them to have all circuits connected to generator power, and so they added more lights and outlets.

"There was a convention of hard hats out there" was how Mac Whatley described the contractors’ regrouping outside after it did not pass the first inspection.

Whatley, chair of the Randolph County Historic Landmark Preservation Commission, walked around the exterior and interior of the courthouse and pointed out the changes, which were made to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The "Watch your step" sign inside the main door is now obsolete. The builders leveled out the steps and portico, removing the sharp drop.

The unused first-floor offices still have AC units in their windows. Once the construction bids came in, Whatley said they scaled back to focus on the elevator and HVAC system upgrades upstairs and paused talks of turning the downstairs into a museum space. "Any kind of construction project has skyrocketed in cost, no matter how easy it is," he said.

Arthurs said the county paid the general contractor, HM Kern, $2,162,000, staying within budget. The last renovation was 2009-2011.

The new addition was designed by Grimsley Hobbs, an architect who did the reconstruction of the Chatham County Courthouse after a fire in 2010 and made upgrades to the Iredell County Courthouse.

Whatley was pleased with how they kept the courthouse’s look consistent inside and out. "I was worried they would make it darker in here, so I like that they made the door match," he said of the elevator lobby’s entrance from the commissioners' meeting room.

The original elevator remains in the center of the building and is still operational. "It's the size of a phone booth," Whatley said. "Imagine being in there with a prisoner, a lawyer and a deputy."

The courthouse was built in 1909 and was made a historic landmark in 2008. While museum talks are on hold, visitors can still see the 1838 belfry bell on display in the hall, though the historic weights and measures were moved into the offices, out of the way of construction. Gesturing to their display cases, Whatley said they are "the oldest pieces of Randolph County."