PORT TOWNSEND — The city’s Historic Preservation Committee has approved plans for the Jefferson County Clock Tower Restoration Project.
After a presentation by Christina Wallace, project manager with San Francisco-based Architectural Resources Group, Historic Preservation Committee members said they were impressed with the plan’s detail and the commitment of returning the tower to its original state while providing needed structural support.
“It’s the most extraordinary presentation I’ve seen,” said Richard Berg, committee member and Port Townsend architect.
He said most project presentations the committee sits through do not incorporate the historical standards the city requires.
Architectural Resources Group, working under a $192,000 county contract, followed U.S. Department of the Interior standards for treatment of historic properties.
The standards are the basis for the city when drafting plans.
Structure supports
The key elements to the restoration, estimated to cost $2 million, are materials to be used and the structural supports to be implanted in the more than century-old, Romanesque-style brick structure.
“None of the structural modifications will be visible to the naked eye,” said Wallace.
