Fulton County Courthouse recognized With The 2020 Heritage Ohio Best Public Building Rehabilitation Award
Work done at Fulton County Courthouse, Wauseon Ohio.
Cheshire CT, September 2020: The Fulton County Commissioners has earned the 2020 Heritage Ohio Best Public Building Rehabilitation Award for the Fulton County Courthouse project. For this rehabilitation project, John Canning & Co. performed restoration and preservation work on the historic Common Pleas Courtroom.
Heritage Ohio is Ohio’s official historic preservation and Main Street organization trying to save the places that matter while building a stronger better community. The organization fosters economic development and sustainability through preservation of historic buildings, revitalization of downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts, and promotion of local tourism. Each year they honor top achievements in preservation and revitalization with their annual awards.
The Fulton County was established in 1850 from the counties Lucas, Henry and Williams. Fulton County is named for Robert Fulton, who was the inventor of the steamboat. The historic courthouse was built in the Italianate Tuscan Villa-style by architect, C.C. Miller, and Alexander Voss and H.B. Bensman were responsible for building and construction in 1872. The Courthouse stands as a Fulton County landmark and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
John Canning & Co.’s, historic Common Pleas Court restoration and preservation work included painting and plastering; refurbishing the chairs and the wooden barrier between the court area and the spectator gallery; cleaning the stained-glass dome; restoring the walls and the luster of the paintings; recreating the courtroom’s original stadium-style seating and returning the courtroom to its original classical lines and color scheme. John Canning & Co. also performed a historic paint study prior to any restoration work to determine the original color palette of the ceiling and ornamental plaster features. The historic paint study revealed the Courtroom was a variation of finishes that have been embellished over the years. Even embellishments on top of embellishments, many times over had occurred. John Canning & Co. returned it to the classical lines, designs and motifs. The decorative finish work John Canning & Co. performed included metallic finishes at ornamental moldings, conservation of murals, as well as hand-painted decorative scrolls, restoring the metal window valances and dado borders.
Among the restored items in the courtroom by Canning were 14 paintings, 10 murals, and four “tondos” – circular paintings. “Each of these paintings were painstakingly evaluated in order to identify the best solution for cleaning, restoring, and preserving these paintings,” said Vond Hall, the County Administrator, for Fulton County.
This award was possible through the top-notch work and team effort from the Garmann Miller Architects-Engineers, Mosser Construction Inc., the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, and John Canning & Co.
Located in Cheshire, CT., John Canning & Co., is one of the nation’s experts in historic restoration, conservation and preservation. John Canning & Co. offers services in a variety of areas including: conservation, planning, designing, historic paint analysis, plaster condition surveys, restoration, decorative finishes and painting, budgeting and consulting. John Canning & Co. with over 40 years of experience has received numerous awards and have been entrusted to restore state capitols, courthouses, churches, libraries, museums, theatres, educational establishments and other historic buildings.