Chatham courthouse nearing reconstruction

After catching fire last March, the Chatham County courthouse is nearly ready for full-fledged reconstruction efforts to begin.

Contractors have almost finished clearing fire debris from the interior of the building and repairing the exterior walls, said Director of Chatham County Public Works David Hughes.

The fire destroyed the judges’ chamber and the district attorney’s offices and also damaged the courtroom and the rest of the building, District Attorney Jim Woodall said.

The district attorney’s offices were hit particularly hard because files were lost or damaged in the fire.

The process of restoring and duplicating the files is about halfway completed but is taking staff away from other work, Woodall said. For now, the district attorney’s offices are using rooms behind the courthouse annex.

So far the county has spent $300,000 demolishing damaged building components, repairing the top of the exterior walls, covering windows with plywood and salvaging roof copper, large beams and interior mahogany panels, Hughes said.

The south side of the traffic circle in front of the courthouse will be closed Monday and Tuesday to allow crews to install steel bracing, he said.

Crews will install a temporary roof in October so the building can start drying out, after which an architect will be selected and a design for permanent reconstruction will be made.

Officials won’t know how much restoration will cost until after building plans are drawn up.

Hughes said insurance requires that the repairs be completed by March of 2013, but he hopes they will be done by the end of 2012.

“Everything but the exterior walls needs to be rebuilt,” he said.

The Chatham County Historic Courthouse Task Force, a citizens’ committee, presented a report to guide reconstruction on Tuesday, according to a press release.

Recommendations, which were obtained through a survey of residents, included retaining the historic courtroom on the second floor and adding new visitor areas to the first floor like art displays, meeting spaces and a museum.

“The consensus was they wanted to rebuild the courthouse essentially back the way it was,” Hughes said.

Courtroom changes the report suggested included the addition of modern lighting, audio and accessibility features and making the space more versatile for other uses.

Woodall said many residents see the courthouse and the traffic circle as an official symbol of the town and county and are anticipating the restoration.

“Everybody had a story of having some attachment to that courthouse or going there for some memorable event in their life,” he said. “The loss of the structure caused a lot of sadness.”

Staff writer Rylan Miller contributed reporting.

Contact the City Editorat citydesk@unc.edu.