House, Senate chambers at Ky. State Capitol gutted for $800K in renovations

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- It's normally controlled chaos when the House is in session as the chamber is filled with lawmakers, staff and observers. But during this break between sessions, the chamber is even more empty than usual.

The historic room has been totally gutted as part of an $800,000 makeover of both the House and Senate.

“Things wear out over time and this building is 100 plus years old -- so finished in 1910,” said curator of the Kentucky Historic Properties Division David Buchta. “The furniture and a lot of the decorative aspects are that old as well and they haven't been refurbished in many years.”

So a sledgehammer has replaced the Speakers gavel as the chambers get their first major renovation in decades

“We had 33-year-old carpet in here that had been stretched and torn and stained. So this is one aspect that really needed to be replaced and will be,” Buchta noted. “The painting hadn't been done in 10 years and no plaster work had been done in over 50 years.”

The trickiest job will be refurbishing lawmaker's desks. There are 100 in the House and 38 in the Senate. The desks are the original furniture that lawmakers have used for 115 years and have never been redone.

“You know, we could have bought new desks or something like that,” Buchta said. “But we didn't want to, because we wanted to preserve the integrity of the Capitol. And those are one of the few things that are still here that do say they are the original pieces.”

The face lift will include new paint and plaster plus updated wiring and technology, including a new voting board - all with an eye toward preserving the chambers historic nature.

“Even though we're modernizing the electronics and things, it will look pretty much as it has since 1910,” Buchta said.

The work is scheduled to be finished in November, well before lawmakers return in January.