Bellefonte keeping history in mind with rehabilitation of Temple Court building

A quick trip through the Bellefonte Historic District reveals numerous glimpses into the history of the borough. The Brockerhoff Hotel, the Reynolds Mansion and the Centre County Courthouse give peeks into the Victorian past that the borough prides itself on.

Those traveling through Bellefonte may notice that one of the historical facades looks, perhaps, a bit newer than the others. The Temple Court building, located next to the Centre County Courthouse Annex on Allegheny Street, recently underwent a facelift and a complete rebuild, courtesy of the county.

As the large-scale construction on the building begins to wind down, the Centre Daily Times was given a chance to visit the rehabilitated structure and learn about what went into giving the historic building a new lease on life.

History of Temple Court building

According to documents from the Bellefonte borough, the Temple Court building was constructed in 1894 by the Brockerhoff family on the site of the old Conrad Hotel. Built in the “Romanesque spirit,” the four-story brick commercial building featured rusticated brownstone store fronts, yellow brick and Queen Anne inspiration.

As a commercial building, it would go on to house several business, including the famed National Store, which opened in 1941 and remained open for 51  1/2 years.

New lease on life

The county’s involvement in the building started around 2005, Board of Commissioners Chairman Michael Pipe said. The decision had been made to make a “campus approach” of the courts allowing the courthouse to expand its space to a nearby building.

The Courthouse Annex, a former bank at the time, was purchased and renovated to include offices and courtrooms, Pipe said. This tipped the development of the campus to that corner of the borough.

“When the last board took over, the conversation became that we still needed space in the court facilities,” he said. “The District Attorney’s Office and probation office have seen a lot of growth and need up-to-date space.”

The opportunity opened to purchase that space in the Temple Court building, he said, which would allow the county to combine the Temple Court building to the Courthouse Annex.

Former Commissioner Chris Exarchos, who was cited by the contractor as being instrumental in getting the Temple Court project underway, said adding the building to the annex was always in the back of his mind to expand the court space.

The county purchased Temple Court in 2012 for about $400,000, he said.

A change of plans

While plans initially only called for connecting the Temple Court building to the Courthouse Annex, a fire that gutted the neighboring Hotel Do De and damaged the Garman Theater in 2012 opened a new opportunity.

What started as a tragedy, Exarchos said, freed up space after the hotel and theater were torn down, leaving an empty lot next to the two buildings. A new structure could be built that would allow for a new entrance and hallway connecting the annex and Temple Court.

Work on the addition was approved by commissioners during the summer of 2014 to the tune of $1.4 million, Financial Management Director Denise Elbell said.

Preserving history

Renovating a building like Temple Court isn’t something one can just jump into, he said. As a historic building, any changes must be approved by the borough’s Historical Architecture Review Board.

HARB Chairman Samuel McGinley Jr. said the board reviewed all the plans and was pleased with what he saw.

“They had it right the first time,” he said. “They wanted to restore it the right way.”

When it came to the building facade, Centre County Planning and Community Development Office Assistant Director Sue Hannegan played a large part in making sure everything turned out right, he said.

The first steps any time anyone is rehabilitating a historic building is to determine if any photographs exist and to look for physical evidence on the building, Hannegan said. Fortunately, Temple Court had both.

An old postcard revealed how the face of the building had initially looked, she said. And a storefront window along Cherry Lane remained original to the building. Based on these, they knew how the building should look.

“It’s historically correct because we replicated the original design,” she said. “We replicated it in new material as it appears, though it is slightly different to accommodate functional space.”

Cost changes

Creating a functional first floor facade came as a last-minute change, Exarchos said. Initially, the county had planned on only rebuilding the top three floors. When it became clear that the first floor was needed for county offices instead of commercial space, a functional office space needed to be created while maintaining the storefront look.

Construction on the addition wrapped at a total cost of about $1.6 million, Elbell said, with $200,000 in change orders due “largely to foundation issues.”

The Temple Court project itself was bid out at $3.1 million, she said, with $1.2 million in change orders bumping the final price up to $4.3 million. Further bids are expected for installation of the security system and a furniture, fixtures and equipment bid.

“Any time you do renovation,” Exarchos said, “you never know what you’re going to hit until you peel up all the stuff and you get down and root around.”

Elbell said the contractor, Caliber Contracting Service Inc., should be finished with the interior work by April.

Mixing history with modern features

The Centre Daily Times was invited to a “punch-down list” walk-through of the Temple Court building Wednesday with Al Drobka and Heather Fink, of Albert A. Drobka, Architect, and Caliber President Kevin McNulty.

A punch-down list gives the architect and contractor a chance to look through the building once it nears completion, noting any cosmetic dents or dings that need to be fixed.

The main entrance to both the Courthouse Annex and Temple Court will now be off East High Street through the new addition, Drobka said. Security and metal detectors will be inside the door, with access to the courthouse and offices right after.

The addition was a vital component to making the connection between the two buildings work, he said. Temple Court and the Courthouse Annex sit on different elevations, he said — the floors don’t line up. The addition gives allows for a gentle slope to connect the buildings together.

Temple Court now features energy-efficient lighting and windows, a modern heating system and sprinklers, while maintaining a historical exterior look.

“Other than the bones of the building — with the floor joints fixed where they needed and columns replaced where they were needed — (the building) is all brand new,” Drobka said.

The top three floors are now largely the same, with a large open office space in the middle and offices surrounding the perimeter, giving a flow to the floor. Each floor requires two ways to get out, resulting in two separate stairwells. An elevator gives access to all floors.

But parts of the original building still peek through, giving a look at what once was. Sections of the original stone wall appear in stairwells and near the main entrance, a tribute to the old Temple Court building.

Another part of the original facade remains — the corner window along Cherry Lane, on which the remaining facade was based. While the glass is new, Drobka said, the framing remains the same. The original double doors are also under renovation to be added to the front as well.

“This building is a landmark building in Bellefonte,” he said. “It’s not going to go anywhere now. Before, we could have had the back wall fall down or something like that.

“This has all been brought up to 2015 standards and meets current code from an energy and handicap perspective,” he said. “Other than the skin on the outside, this is a brand new building.”

This story was originally published January 30, 2016 at 11:56 PM with the headline "Bellefonte keeping history in mind with rehabilitation of Temple Court building."