DuPage County Historical Museum getting new roof
What's with all the scaffolding around the DuPage County Historical Museum?
From the stair tower to the sidewalks below, the downtown Wheaton building is encased in the structure.
It's not a major renovation, but replacing the roof on a building that dates to 1891 takes more than a couple of ladders.
Crews are navigating the steep, sloping roof, spires, the turreted tower - all hallmarks of an architectural style adopted by Charles Sumner Frost when a distant relative of President John Quincy Adams hired him to design the building as a library.
Another Frost work? Just a little known destination called Navy Pier.
The existing, "brownish, grayish" roof isn't original to Frost's design. And it was nearing the end of its life. Even worse, curators were worried that a "few minor leaks" in the past could spring into a major problem for artifacts from across DuPage County inside.
"It will ease all of our minds to know that everything is brand new up there," said Michelle Podkowa, the museum manager and educator.
After a state grant promised in 2014 fell through, the charitable arm of the Inland Real Estate Group Inc. donated $200,000 and helped get the project off the ground. The DuPage County Historical Museum Guild contributed $5,000, and the county is paying the rest of the bill, expected to cost a total of about $450,000.
The work began late this fall, and now crews are tearing off the shingles and making repairs as needed underneath.
From there, the new shingles - a shade of red that looks more like Frost's design - will be installed.
And throughout the delicate process, the museum, owned by the county and run by the Wheaton Park District, will keep its normal hours.
Monday's ice and a wet December caused slight delays, Podkowa said.
But the roof should be completed in the second or third week in January.
The finished product, she said, will make the museum even more eye-catching on the corner of Main and Wesley streets.
"It will make a drastic difference to the appearance of our building downtown," Podkowa said.