Over $400,000 in funding was approved by Northampton's city council Thursday to help address what officials are calling a "critical juncture" for the 152-year-old Memorial Hall building.
Found on Main Street near city hall and the Academy of Music, the structure dates back to 1872, when it was dedicated to local veterans.
It's now home to a number of city services and offices, including the Veterans’ Services department. But according to a recent review, it's also home to falling chunks of granite and brick on the building's outside, heavy plaster moulding falling on its inside, and various other "escalating structural issues."
"We have had to close the entrance leading to Pulaski Park because of risk of falling material from the building facade, so there is sort of an imperative that we get this work started because there are safety concerns about this building,” said Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, who spoke at the meeting alongside the Director of Central Services, Patrick McCarthy, to request $426,218 from the city's General Stabilization Fund.
Up until this point, Sciarra said McCarthy's department has been able to maintain the building and was in the process of seeking out Community Preservation Act funding.
However, recent developments show the structural work needed has gone well beyond what McCarthy's team can handle.
Obstacles include the building's specialized masonry, such as the plaster moulding inside the veterans' department — a giant chunk of which collapsed and fell 15 feet before landing next to a staff member's desk in February, according to McCarthy, who held up a piece of it during the meeting.
"It's actually heavier than a brick - I would say about four feet of this fell - it's pretty heavy,” McCarthy said with the object in hand.
A main culprit behind the damage: constant stormwater cascading over the building's masonry due to its design, leading to serious deterioration.
Other causes included freezing and thawing damage to the masonry, as well as long-term water infiltration, according to Marc Loranger, whose firm, Gale Architects, was commissioned in spring 2023 to examine the building and "urgent consequences of decades of deferred maintenance."
Also highlighted by Loranger — significant damage to the building's foundation and various support beams due to long-term exposure to moisture.
Work to repair the structure is expected to cost at least $2.7 million according to the city, but due to rapid deterioration as well as falling debris forcing the west entrance to close, the city council was approached to get the ball rolling.
The council fielded a number of questions about what the work would entail and how long the issues at the building had been known.
At one point, Councilor Quaverly Rothenberg highlighted how the funding request was brought to the council's attention only days beforehand.
The councilor noted that, given the nature of the aging building requiring more regular maintenance in the future, maintaining it in the years to come might not be sustainable.
"I'm OK with moving forward with this tonight,” Rothenberg said. “But similarly, I'm concerned about this building being not financially viable for us to sustain long-term, and I would like to find some mechanism - to pick up that discussion at a future date."
The council went on to unanimously approve the funding transfer.
