Courthouse to be leveled

Construction will occur from the ground up

Full demolition of the Gunnison County Courthouse, including the historic 1881 portions of the building, began Monday, March 24, after county officials and consulting engineers deemed the entire structure unsound.

Original renovation plans for the courthouse called for the preservation and inclusion of the historic portions of the building with the new construction. However, the unplanned collapse of several portions of the old building during deconstruction two weeks ago forced the county to change its plans.
“It was with heavy hearts that we made the decision to take down the original 1881 courthouse structure,” the Gunnison County Board of Commissioners wrote in a statement. “As commissioners, our two primary responsibilities are public health and safety, and fiscal responsibility. To continue our restoration efforts of the building at this point would be fiscally irresponsible and greatly risk the safety of many people. We are planning on using materials from the original building to recreate a structure that will be safe, sound and secure.”
Construction crews had been working to shore up and protect the interior of the historic portions of the building just before the first collapse occurred. Though these crews were successfully evacuated before the collapse, the continued shifting and failure of the structure made further interior work dangerous, and also put exterior work to the building on hold.
“The existing 1881 building structure, in its present condition, is structurally unstable and any stabilization efforts, in or adjacent to the building, which would utilize standard and accepted industry work procedures are not safe and present a serious life safety issue to workmen,” said consulting engineer Bob Williams of Williams Engineering LLC. “In my opinion it is not practical, safe or cost effective to stabilize and repair the existing structure.”
According to GE Johnson, the contractor on the project, stabilization efforts to the building could impact the overall construction budget by as much as $300,000, significantly prolong the timeline for the project’s completion, and create quality issues for the new construction, which would likely be affected by winter weather.
Demolition, however, will likely allow the project to proceed as scheduled and within the original budget.
The county is now working to determine how it might use some of the original courthouse materials in the new construction. Examples of this recycling could include the use of reclaimed tin ceiling tiles in the entryway, the large wooden trusses for the commissioners’ boardroom, the foundation stone for site work and the exposed brick for finish and façade work.