Flower Memorial Library is about to embark on a series of projects that includes making sure small pieces of marble don’t fall from the top of the historic building and getting its two iconic fountains fixed.
In the spring, maintenance workers discovered that 3- or 4-inch pieces of marble were falling to the ground.
A chain was subsequently put up in front of the building to prevent the public from entering the area.
“You don’t want pieces of marble falling on people’s heads,” library director Suzie Renzi-Falge said.
All summer the two fountains in front of the building have been covered because they need to be repaired.
Earlier this month, the City Council appropriated $72,428 to hire Heritage Masonry, Syracuse, to repoint and repair the building’s cornice to prevent more pieces from falling.
The city also is waiting for a quote from a company to see how much it will cost to fix an electrical problem on the two fountains.
Somehow water had seeped into the fountain’s electrical conduit, City Manager Kenneth A. Mix said. The city hopes to find out whether the electrical equipment can be moved from underneath the fountains and into the building.
Almost 20 years ago, fundraising efforts saved the two fountains from being removed.
In the past several years, repairs have been done to the building’s facade at least two other times, Mix remembered.
The engraved lettering at the top of the library and its soffit had to undergo repairs. Heritage Masonry — which also has done work on a wall at Thompson Park — was involved in that work, Mix said.
Inside, about eight windows on the second floor of the 1975 addition will be replaced and there will be upgrades to the lighting in the 1812 and Old Watertown Rooms, Renzi-Falge said.
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