The two-year $50 million exterior cleaning and restoration of Connecticut's historic state Capitol building in Hartford will take a back seat to next year's 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The advisory State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission voted to delay the project until Sept. 1, 2026. That means the historic 1878 Gothic structure in Hartford will not be sheathed in scaffolding at a time when it will be a major backdrop for a variety of commemorative activities, particularly on next year's Fourth of July when the nation will celebrate its 250th birthday.
Denise Merrill, chair of the America 250 Connecticut Commission, said Dec. 11 that the 14-acre State Capitol campus and the adjacent Bushnell Park are scheduled to host groups from towns and cities throughout the state on July 4, 2026.
She praised state Sen. Cathy Osten, chair of the building's restoration commission, for steering the group in support of delaying the work, which will include repointing granite and marble blocks and refurbishing 522 windows.
Merrill, a former majority leader of the Connecticut House of Representatives, said 145 municipalities in the state have established local efforts to mark the semiquincentennial despite major cuts in federal funding through the National Endowment for the Humanities.
"Our goal is to have local stories on things that went on in their towns and the people involved back 250 years ago," Merrill said.
During the Capitol Preservation and Restoration Committee meeting on Dec. 9, Osten asked the 12-member group for a consensus to allow the Capitol project to start in September.
"The question is, should we start before the 250th celebration?" asked Osten, who also is co-chair of the state's budget-setting Appropriations Committee. "Because once we put [the scaffolding] up, we can't take it down for the celebration and put it back up again. We're going to have large celebrations next year. We don't want people coming up here with horse guards and people in uniforms and other things and say that we're not respecting the 250th celebration."
Brian Pencz, facilities administrator of the state's Office of Legislative Management, said the cost of waiting two months should not be too different and delaying the construction until the fall is manageable. The building checklist includes approximately $1 million to brush on new gold leaf that is 3/1000th of an inch thick around the massive 250-ft.-tall capitol dome, designed by architect Richard Mitchell Upjohn.
Pencz's office is still studying whether it is structurally sound to remove an 18-ft.-tall bronze copy of the "Genius of Connecticut" statue from the first floor rotunda to the top of the building, where the original stood for decades before its removal in the 1930s.
What will not be returning to the restored Capitol Building is the center flagpole overlooking the south entrance of the structure, which toppled in a high wind in late November. Pencz said the wooden pole was not part of the original building design and the staffs above the east and west entrances will become the chief ceremonial flagpoles.
"We knew it was in bad decay when the painter said he would no longer climb it to paint the flagpole," Pencz told the restoration commission.
Connecticut's Capitol Building is National Landmark
Initial work on the state Capitol Building in Hartford began in 1871 and was constructed with New England marble and granite and crowned by a gold leaf dome at a cost of $2.5 million. Today, it has an estimated replacement value of more than $200 million.
In addition to housing the Connecticut State Senate Chamber, hall of the State House of Representatives and offices of the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state, the structure and surrounding grounds abound with memories and mementos of Connecticut's early years.
In 1972, the Connecticut State Capitol was declared a national historical landmark by the United States Department of Interior.
