Courthouse dome leak to be repaired

CELINA - A structure protecting the Mercer County Courthouse's beautiful stained-glass dome has sprung a leak, prompting county commissioners to award a nearly $25,000 contract to have it coated.

Unbeknownst to many, the courthouse's glass dome is not directly exposed to the elements. Rather, an octagonal structure with a flat roof consisting of a frame of blocks or panels containing half-inch thick glass surrounds it.

"This is around the dome where we have a leak," county commissioner Rick Muhlenkamp said.

"We've sealed it a couple times, as far as that goes, periodically," maintenance supervisor David Dorsten told the newspaper while on the courthouse roof pointing to the structure.

The glass frame began to leak, Dorsten said, chalking it up to the rain that fell when the weather warmed in February and March.

Also, a radiator within the structure sprang a leak, Muhlenkamp said. The two leaks damaged the plaster inside the courthouse beneath the stained-glass windows.

The county must pay to have the structure's roof sealed with a protective coating called polyurea. However, the county's insurance company will pay to repair and paint the plaster within the courthouse, commissioners noted.

Commissioners last week approved a $24,866 contract to Ohio and Indiana Roofing to spray the polyurea over the primed surface areas of the structure protecting the stained-glass dome.

"It's like a clear, flexible coating," Muhlenkamp explained. "It will go on as a clear product that will still allow the sunlight in for the natural light through the glass dome."

"It will be like a solid membrane over that," Dorsten noted.

Another contractor will repair and paint the plaster once the roofing company completes its work, which entails, among other actions, power washing the structure's surface and applying polyurea to the primed surface and the glass block area.

The stained-glass dome itself was restored with new paint, gold leaf and leading in the glass in 2001. The first and second floors also received new paint and gold leaf, and wall murals were restored in 2002

Commissioners also believe they'll need to address the entire courthouse roof in the coming months. It was last replaced in the early 1990s and held up for 25 years.

Officials are looking at two options - applying a product that would extend the roof's life another 10 to 15 years or replacing the roof. They'll look into the costs of each option.

"(The product) has to be tested to see if it will hold it. Otherwise we'll have to put a new roof on it," Dorsten said.

The courthouse, which was completed in 1923 and has been referred to as a "veritable marble palace," continues to attract tourists each year, especially in the summer, Dorsten said.

Forty-feet-tall Corinthian columns grace the four entrances of the gray Bedford limestone courthouse in the heart of downtown Celina. Its open interior is enhanced with large bronze doors and marble floors, walls and staircases. Visitors can climb the ornate, winding staircase to view the rotunda below or look upward to see the stained-glass dome,

"The walls of the rotunda are huge panels of Vermont marble, and black marble is used to accentuate the main entrances and the grand staircase rail," administrative clerk Kim Everman wrote in a Mercer County narrative in 2016.