Statehouse restoration cited as year's top project
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">The multimillion-dollar restoration of the Illinois House and Senate chambers has been chosen as the 2007 "Project of the Year" by Landmarks Illinois.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">"I think it's an outstanding recognition, an honor for all the artisans and craftsmen and engineers and architects who were part of the project," said Tim Mapes, chief of staff to House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Eiliesh Tuffy, director of preservation programs for Landmarks Illinois, said Wednesday: "The jury was just very impressed with the dedication ... to really follow through with not just a restoration of the space, but a really true, outstanding, historically accurate reconstruction."
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">"The level of detail in this was unbelievable," she added. "Things like this usually are last on the list, so it was pretty amazing to see the state really commit to bringing this back to its original splendor."
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Landmarks Illinois also is known as the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">The jury that considered the Capitol project and about three dozen other nominated projects called the House and Senate work "a period restoration of the highest quality." Jurors said Illinois "should serve as a model for other states that wish to restore their Capitol buildings."
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Vinci-Hamp Architects Inc. of Chicago served as architect for the House and Senate restoration.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Legislators had been operating in spaces that were "uninteresting" and "not up to the level of what government architecture should be," said Philip Hamp, principal and owner of Vinci-Hamp. "It's important to have it look right."
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">"It should be a reflection of the importance of the democratic system," he said, estimating the cost of the project at about $18 million to $19 million.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">The Illinois House and Senate were off-limits to the public and to lawmakers for months last year while workers installed new carpeting and desks and implemented other changes intended to make the chambers look as they did when the Capitol was completed in 1887. As a result, lawmakers moved their 2006 fall veto session to the Old State Capitol and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">An awards ceremony recognizing the Capitol project and eight others will be Oct. 27 in Chicago.
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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" class="BODY">Adriana Colindres can be reached at (217) 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com.