City Hall's gold eagle will shine once more

Residents may have forgotten what the face of City Hall looked like before scaffolding was erected almost three years ago, and many have complained to city officials that the scene, with its noticeable absence of construction work, is unsightly.

But the complaints usually halt once residents are told that the scaffolding is there to protect passersby from getting whacked by pieces of wood that could fall from the deteriorating 156-year-old eagle sculpture atop the hall's cupola.

But after years of delays, City Hall's clock tower, facing the Campagnone Common on Common Street, could finally get its badly needed face lift with capital improvement money sometime during the summer or early fall, said Frank McCann, director of the Department of Public Works. The tower work will be part of a $2.5 million renovation project for City Hall that will be paid for with funds from a five-year, $30 million capital improvement bond proposed by Mayor Michael J. Sullivan and approved last month by the City Council.

McCann said he gave Boston-based CBI Consulting Inc. the green light last week to prepare the documents to get the project out to bid. CBI Consulting did the original assessment, costing the city about $40,000, which led to the discovery that the wooden eagle reigning over the city was falling apart.

"We're finishing preparing the documents" for the project to be put out to bid, McCann said. "I'd like to see the work start this year. It requires putting additional staging to what's already there. We're probably looking at a start date of hopefully summer or early fall."

Although the current scaffolding is costing the town about $8,500 a year, McCann said the cost of the additional scaffolding needed to begin the restoration project will be included in the construction contract.

The clock tower and cupola restoration could cost about $1.5 million, said Myles E. Burke, Sullivan's chief of staff.

"We need to make sure that this work stays on schedule," Burke said. "You almost forget what the building looks like now, because the scaffolding is up as a precautionary effort, not a construction tool at all."

Restoring the historic clock tower and eagle -- the only vestiges of the original City Hall structure built in the mid-19th century and expanded in 1923 -- has been on the minds of city officials for at least three decades, most recently in 2001 when former Mayor Patricia A. Dowling set aside $300,000 for the project. However, at least someof that money was used a year later to fix the city's trash pickup problems.

Burke said the capital improvement money comes at a critical time not only to save the clock tower, but to coincide with the city's attempt to create a new image for itself.

"It's amazing that [the tower] has lasted this long, at 150 years and enduring all sorts of New England weather. It's the symbol of the city, and we want it to be a symbol of the city's comeback," Burke said.

The price tag today to regild the eagle -- measuring 9 feet from bill to tail -- restore the original mahogany on the pedestal and 3-foot in diameter ball where the eagle sits, and fix the clock gears is 3,000 times more than the $500 it cost Selectman John M. Smith in 1848 to carve the sculpture. And by comparison, it is 50 times more than the $30,000 contract price to build the original City Hall.

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.