LAMBERTVILLE: Work to upgrade City Hall could begin in March

Last week, City Council awarded a $1,296,675 contract to Watertrol Inc., of Cranford

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   LAMBERTVILLE — A grand old dame that has stood at North Union and York streets for nearly 140 years is about to get the care and attention she has long needed.
   The A.H. Holcombe House, which serves as Lambertville’s City Hall, has suffered numerous indignities. Birds get inside through gaps and holes in the roof. Bats get into the cupola. At one point, the city’s mayor just wanted to unload it.
   Mayor David Del Vecchio, who has been in office since 1992, recalled going door to door during one of his election campaigns. He tried hard to sell residents on the idea of selling City Hall.
   ”People would say, ‘Look it, I want to vote for you, but rethink City Hall,’” the mayor said. “I did, and that’s why we’re where we are today. That was clearly a message.”
   The message may have been clear for years, but the source of funding has long been murky. As far back as 2000, members of the Friends of the A.H. Holcombe House met with the New Jersey Historic Trust in hopes of obtaining grant funding to pay for renovations and restoration.
   It took five years, but in 2005, the city finally won a $486,180 grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust. Another large grant came from the state Department of Community Affairs. The city also is kicking in some money.
   Last week, the City Council awarded a $1,296,675 contract to the lowest of four bidders, Watertrol Inc., of Cranford. The other bids ranged from $1,377,000 to $1,855,000.
   The contract will cover Phase 1 of the project, which includes exterior work only. At an undetermined future date, Phase 2 will concentrate on the building’s interior.
   Watertrol will add an addition that will house an elevator and a stairwell, install handicapped-accessible bathrooms on the second floor, repair portions of the slate mansard roof and replace the slate that is not salvageable, doing the same for the windows.
   The addition will be located at the back of the house. It will not be visible from either York or North Union, according to architect Eric Holtermann, of Holt Morgan Russell in Princeton. The addition will be “as minimal as possible,” and the material will match the building’s façade, he said.
   The bathrooms and the elevator are designed to bring the building into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires all public areas to be handicapped accessible. The stairwell will provide a second egress from upper floors.
   The Holcombe house was built in 1871 by an attorney as a wedding gift for his wife. It became Lambertville’s City Hall in 1950.
   ”It’s a very good example of a mid-19th-century upscale house,” Mr. Holtermann said.
   The city will schedule a preconstruction meeting with Watertrol when a timetable for the work will be established. According to Mr. Holtermann, the work is expected to last about nine months with digging possibly beginning in March.
   While work progresses, city employees still will provide services to residents from offices within the building, although the offices might be in a different location within the building.
   ”At no time will the city not function,” Mayor Del Vecchio said. “This is very important. We will have some inconveniences to the public and some inconveniences to our staff. We will make sure, whatever they are, people will know in detail.”
   All contractors had to prequalify before bidding on the project.
   ”You’re not building something new; you’re working on a 140-year-old building,” Mayor Del Vecchio said. “Given the fact we’re talking about slate roofs and repointing stone, you want people who are tradespeople, someone who went through an apprenticeship program. A rehab job is so different than new construction.”
   Watertrol has performed work on the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington and other historic structures.