DENVER A Colorado icon is about to close to the public for nearly three years.
The state Capitols famous golden dome a favorite Front Range tourist attraction will be shuttered on Dec. 1 as crews put up scaffolding for a repair job that is years overdue.
The gray columns that support the dome look like granite, but they actually are made out of cast iron rusting cast iron.
This is the first time in a hundred years that the paints been stripped. Its been repainted over and over again for 100 years, said State Architect Larry Friedberg.
Peeling paint has let water infiltrate the iron structure, and the rust is now clearly visible from the street, more than 100 feet below.
The outside balcony of the dome has been closed since 2006, when fasteners rusted and a piece of iron dropped from the ceiling.
For a few more days, visitors can still take the 99-step journey to the top deck of the dome, but they cant go outside. The whole dome will be closed from Dec. 1 until May 2014, the estimated end of the repair job.
It will be painstaking work, Friedberg said.
Scaffolding will go up around the dome in three phases. Workers will then scrape off the paint a little at a time, make repairs to the iron, if necessary, seal it and repaint it.
The original builders used lead paint, so the scaffolding will have to be draped in a protective cloth when the paint is removed.
Long story short, well replace some pieces, but mostly well remove the paint, remove the rust, Friedberg said.
Near the end of the project, the gold itself will be replaced, along with the century-old copper panels underneath the gilded dome.
AngloGold Ashanti has pledged to donate up to 72 ounces of gold needed to cover the dome, worth about $120,000 as of last Tuesday.
The repair job is expected to cost $17 million.
The Legislature dedicated $4 million from the State Historical Fund for the work, and Colorado Preservation Inc. is trying to raise the remaining $13 million from private donors. Nearly $1 million has been raised so far, organizers said.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.