Built in 1713, the Old State House is the oldest surviving public building from the nation's original thirteen colonies. Constructed of brick, after the original wooden Town House on the site was destroyed by fire, the structure has withstood Boston’s unforgiving weather for more than 300 years, and has survived the installation of two subway lines whose trains still rumble directly beneath the building. All of these environmental stresses, along with the inevitable aging of its materials over time, have left their marks on this National Historic Landmark.
Bostonian Society President Brian W. J. LeMay observes that, “After two or three centuries, a historic building requires a bit of extra care. But some old structures like this, where really important things happened, come to embody the history we all share; they"re a part of who we all are, and they are worthy of some additional attention.” The Bostonian Society has been the caretaker of the Old State House since its founding in 1881, overseeing the building's repairs, and interpreting it as a museum of Boston's revolutionary history.
The work will include restoration of the distinctive statues of a lion and a unicorn atop the building's east façade. This will entail lowering the statues by crane and transporting them to a conservator's studio, where they will be resurfaced with palladium and gold leaf. The two animals are drawn from Great Britain's royal coat of arms – the unicorn symbolizing Scotland, and the lion representing England — placed on the building as emblems of the colonial government housed inside. On July 18, 1776, after the Declaration of Independence was first read to the citizens of Boston from the balcony of the Old State House, patriotic Bostonians pulled down the original lion and unicorn statues and burned them in a bonfire. When the building was first restored in 1881-82, wooden copies were installed, but these had rotted so badly by the turn of the century that they were replaced by the current statues, constructed of hammered copper over steel armatures.
Commodore Builders has been selected to perform the restoration work on the historic building. Joseph Albanese, CEO and president of the firm, served as the project manager for the last major restoration of the building, along with its sister site Faneuil Hall, over 20 years ago. “This project is personally very special to me,” commented Albanese, “not only because of its historic significance to the City of Boston, but because it represents a memorable milestone in my own career. I am honored to be back on the site and to play a role in preserving a precious icon that is synonymous with the history of this city.”
Funding for this project has been provided by the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund, a program of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts administered through a collaborative arrangement between MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Manton Foundation, Boston Duck Tours, the Shirley Shattuck Windsor Charitable Trust, the Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund and by several individual donors.
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