12 Jul Courthouse Preservation – Letter to the Editor

Dru Clarke | The Smoke SIgnal

The National Trust for Historic Preservation states that “the greenest building is the one already built.” That means that the Pottawatomie County courthouse could be fully functional for today’s needs and be environmentally friendly. In the B and G study, costs were compared for new construction and for renovation. Major renovation, which part of the courthouse would need to bring it to functional use today, was $36 per square foot cheaper than for new construction! Proper maintenance is what sustains a stone building, like my house that predates the courthouse. Most stone structures built then had a rubble (not a ‘crumbling’, as the B and G study states) foundation, built of stone with a porous, breathing lime mortar that allows moisture to evaporate from the stone. The courthouse has such a foundation, and any loosening stones or mortar can, with proper (and affordable) technique, be remedied. Someone knowledgeable can easily restore such a foundation. Recently I visited parts of Europe that had buildings from 3500 B.C. that were still in use: they were made, for the most part, from limestone (Dalmatian stone, used also in Washington D.C.). Conserving the cherished Pottawatomie County Courthouse would be the honorable and fiscally responsible thing to do. Most sincerely, Drusilla (Dru) Clarke, M.A.T., St. George