Rhode Island State House Dome Repair Project Kicks Off July 22nd
PROVIDENCE ??? The Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) at the Department of Administration is kicking off a four-month-long project to repair the interior of the Rhode Island State House dome and exterior windows today.
???The Rhode Island State House is one of our most beautiful assets, and its dome is due for some maintenance,??? said DCAMM Director Carole Cornelison. ???It???s been about 20 years since we looked to make repairs to the dome. In addition to cleaning the interior and exterior of the dome, a contractor will be performing some plaster work and paint restoration over the next few months.???
Martone Service Company Inc., the general contractor, will begin erecting scaffolding in the rotunda beginning this week. Brewster Thornton Group Architects LLP has also provided design for the $256,000 project, which is not expected to disrupt services at the State House.
The dome mural, which hangs more than 100 feet above the rotunda floor, depicts Rhode Island???s ???Four Freedoms,??? or the four important pillars of the lives of early Rhode Island settlers: the land grant, religious tolerance, pioneering and the origins of construction, and the beginnings of industry. The late Scituate artist James Allen King designed the mural using watercolors on a large illustration board, but became too ill to climb 200 steps each day to paint it on the dome. He provided his original sketches to three other artists ??? George DeFelice, Robert C. Haun and Victor Zucchi ??? who completed the mural.
The Rhode Island State House is known for having the fourth largest unsupported marble dome in the world, right behind St. Peter???s Basilica in Rome, the Minnesota State Capital and the Taj Mahal in India.
Will DCAMM be hiring resident engineers.