Baltimore City Hall’s roof and dome to get $11.8M restoration
After allocating more than $12 million to repair the marble walls of Baltimore's City Hall, officials are now planning to restore its roof and distinctive dome.
Baltimore's Board of Estimates this week approved a request to award a construction contract in the amount of $11,817,165.20 to Janus Contractors Inc. to restore City Hall's roof and dome over the next 24 months.
The source of funds is a combination of city bond funding and federal money authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The timetable for the project is from Nov. 6, 2024, to Nov. 5, 2026.
According to John Riggin, communications manager for Baltimore's Department of General Services, the dome hasn't received attention since the 1970s.
"City Hall is nearly 150 years old," Riggin said in an email message. "The roof, dome, and associated systems require upkeep to protect them from deterioration and ensure the interior of the building is kept dry. The last major project on the City Hall roof was completed in 2004 and the last time the dome received attention was 1975-1977. Therefore, it is time to return to continue to keep it functional and beautiful."
Riggin said there are no unsafe conditions currently associated with the dome and it is safe for people to walk underneath it. "The purpose of this project is to address normal deterioration before conditions worsen to a point at which they might become hazardous," he said.
Designed in a Second Empire style by then 22-year-old architect George Frederick, City Hall was constructed between 1867 and 1875 at a cost of more than $2 million, in 1875 dollars. It officially opened on October 25, 1875, making it 149 years old. Though constructed largely with brick, it is faced with white "Beaver Dam" marble that cost $957,000 — nearly half of the construction price.
Since 1875, the building at 100 Holliday St. has been the official seat of government of Baltimore City, housing the offices of the mayor, the City Council and the comptroller. It was designated a city landmark in 1971 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Mayor Brandon Scott and others frequently hold events under the dome, including news conferences and ceremonies. The "City Hall Roof and Dome Restoration" project involves work entirely on the exterior of the building, not the interior.
"The dome restoration primarily entails stripping the existing paint, removing rust and surface corrosion, making repairs to any cracks, limited replacement of badly deteriorated sections, and recoating the dome to protect it from future corrosion," Riggin said.
It also involves "repair and painting of the windows and flashing the sills with metal to direct water away from the building and protect the stone below," and "restoration of the slate roof, replacing gutters and downspouts, and replacing rotted dormer windows," among other tasks, he said.
Earlier bid rejected
According to information on the Board of Estimates' Nov. 6 agenda, the city's Department of General Services (DGS) sought bids for a City Hall "roof replacement and dome restoration" project earlier this year and received one bid that was opened on April 3, 2024.
That bid came from W. M. Schlosser Company and was for $13,622,000, "which was found to be 207 [percent] above the Engineer's estimate of $6,592,569," according to a statement from DGS. "One significant driver of the cost was the scarcity of locally based qualified technicians to perform specialty trades on this project. In addition, the cost estimator made several false assumptions about the means and methods necessary to achieve the work specified."
The total available funding for the City Hall roof and dome project is currently $11,927,502.80, according to the DGS.
Due to the funding gap between the single bid received and the funds available, the DGS said, it contacted the State of Maryland Department of General Services and proposed an alternative way of selecting a contractor, known as the Gordian Job Order Contract (JOC) procurement process, which is "available to all local governments in Maryland through the Maryland Department of General Services as a means of procuring construction contracts."
Using that approach, the city's DGS solicited a bid from Janus, which had not bid on the project earlier this year, and received a proposal that was within the city's budget, according to the DGS explanation to the spending panel.
"This solicitation was prepared using pre-negotiated catalog pricing, following the standard rules and procedures of the JOC contract," the DGS said in its memo to the Board of Estimates. "The cost proposal submitted by Janus Contractors, Inc. is $11,779,221.16, which aligns with DGS's available budget, offering an estimated saving of $1,842,779 compared to the initial bid."
Along with asking that the City Hall project be awarded to Janus, the DGS asked the Board of Estimates to reject the higher bid from Schlosser, which it did. "The Department of General Services determined that the bid [from Schlosser] was way above the engineer's estimate, and it is in the best interest of the City to reject all bids and experience other procurement vehicles," the DGS said in its request.
Preserving historic integrity
When the dome was restored in the 1970s, that work was part of a larger project that also saw the interior of the building rehabilitated and the square footage increased with the insertion of two extra floors. It cost $10.5 million.
Specialty trades required for the current project, Riggin said, include historic brick masonry, ornamental metalwork, slate shingle roofing, cast iron repair, wood window restoration, and ornamental painting. Because the building has landmark designation, "all technicians must possess sufficient experience to demonstrate competency in their trade to preserve the historic integrity of City Hall," he said.
Unlike the 1970s-era project, which required employees working in City Hall to be relocated from Holliday Street to a "temporary City Hall" on Redwood Street, City Hall will remain open throughout all phases of the current project and "there will be no interruption of service inside," Riggin said.
