City Hall
As Paducah’s City Hall closes in on its fiftieth birthday,
it is dying. Edward Durell Stone, the
building’s renowned architect, would not be happy about the demise of his
masterpiece, his rendition of the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India,
also his architectural creation.
Age 50 is nowhere near old age and death. It shouldn’t be this way, but our City Hall
is not dying from some horrific event.
No, City Hall is just dying from a thousand small cuts. These cuts were probably not malicious, but they
are cuts nonetheless.
There was a time that City Hall literally seemed to float on
a sea of light. All its columns, each lit at night, have grown dark or are only
partially lit. The black stair railings that have guided dignitaries and everyday
citizens for nearly five decades have been allowed to rust away from their
moorings on the concrete steps that lead to the roofed piazza. And that roof, it is bending low now at the
ends, like a man needlessly stooped at middle age. As you approach from the 5th Street
side, the concrete piazza is broken and pockmarked--not from a catastrophe,
just no one cared to keep the grand entrance grand. And don’t forget to notice the small chains
up high near the entrance doors. I
believe they are forgotten remnants for the hanging of the Christmas
wreaths. Those entrance doors from both
4th and 5th Streets have a less than pleasing “grafted
on” look. Instead of thoughtfully
restoring the original doors, we made do with something less. And that is what we
got, something less. At some point it was decided to “modernize” the windows
with a fresh coat of grey paint. Too bad
the paint covered the aluminum that had originally been designed by Mr. Stone. As a further insult, the surface couldn’t
have been prepped correctly because the grey is flaking away.
I should stop here. This subject is dispiriting enough. And I bear responsibility also. As your commissioner I have not demanded the
attention this building needs. It is just a sad way to treat our front door to
the world. Maybe we should try to
formulate a plan to correct the slights to our seat of city government. If not, its epitaph might read: “Some by war,
some by pestilence--no, our City Hall perished due to neglect and deferred
maintenance.”
I have told you my feelings, but I need to hear from
you. So let’s have it.
