Another phase of 1891 Pinal County courthouse renovation underway

Pinal County Grants Coordinator Ernie Feliz is like an expectant father waiting for the birth of his first child.

On Wednesday he was watching anxiously as crews installed new beams in the Pinal County 1891 courthouse’s roof. It’s the second part of a renovation project Feliz is overseeing

In the six years since he joined Pinal County as its Grants Coordinator, Feliz has been working diligently on raising money to save the 1891 courthouse. The first major part of what is expected to be many phases of renovations began in late 2004 when the courthouse’s clock tower was shored up and new shingles were installed. The cost of that project was just under $270,000. The majority of the funding came in grants from various organizations.

According to Feliz, the current part of the renovation, the roof, is the key to saving the historic building.

“This is so critical because you won’t have a building if it doesn’t have a good cover.”

Most of the second story of the roof will be stabilized, repaired or replaced in order to stop the water from leaking in and damaging the trusses and beams that hold the upper floors in place.

“There were a couple of years when I thought the roof would collapse,” Feliz recalled. “To see these beams coming in to stabilize the roof means we are getting a good handle on this project.”

While Feliz is worried about the stabilization of the courthouse roof; the contractor for the project, HH Construction, is concerned about getting the 40-foot long, 1,000-pound beams in place.

Watching a beam being moved into place with a crane and a large crew on hand, Project Superintendent Troy Nichols said there were some doubts if it could be done.

“I remember when the architect told me, ‘I want to see how you are going to do this.'”

Removing the corrugated metal that covered the south end of the second story of the courthouse was the answer to getting the new beams into place. While that was somewhat easy to contend with, the issue of removing the old dormer and support joists presented its share of difficultly for the contractor.

“The framing presented some unique problems,” stated Fred Hoops, a partner in HH Construction. Hoops is in Florence to supervise this part of the project.

“With historic buildings everything is different,” Hoops said about building styles. “We have done a lot of historic buildings, and all have different styles. So much depends upon the materials available and the type of labor you had at the time.”

After a quick pause and looking around the courtroom area where the work was taking place just above his head, Hoops added: “For being as old as it is, the courthouse has stood up very well. You see the plaster has little or no damage. It was well built.”

Hoops said his firm just finished up renovating the train depot in Holbrook and is trying to get this project done before the end of the year.

This part of the renovation will cost $650,000 Feliz said. Some of the money came in the form of grants from the Arizona State Parks Historic Preservation Heritage Fund, the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Office of Housing and Urban Development. The Town of Florence and Pinal County added the rest to finish the project.

Not willing to rest on his laurels, Feliz said he is working on getting more money to replace or repair more of the courthouse. He is hoping to get the dormer and chimneys repaired in the next phase of the renovation. From that point Feliz said he is hoping to find the cash to fix up the interior of the building.

You get that feeling the Florence native won’t stop until the final coat of paint is dry and the rebirth of the old courthouse is complete.