The nearly century-old Plummer House water tower needs some serious attention.
The historic tower,at 1091 Plummer Lane SW was built in 1919, five years before the historic home. The tower got a facelift in 1985, but its condition has deteriorated, and it has been determined work is necessary to preserve the building.
The Rochester Park Board has selected Armon Architecture and Collaborative Design Group, two consultants both knowledgeable of the property and historical restoration and design.
"We are thrilled to be involved in the historic preservation of such an iconic part of Rochester's history," said Collin Tinsley, of Armon Architecture, a 12-year-old Rochester firm. "Working with Bill Hickey, of Collaborative Design Group, for peer review and structural design along with support from Jane Bisel and Steve Williams, of Blue Planet Museum Consulting, we look forward to a project that will preserve the Plummer water tower for years to come."
Collaborative Design group is a company based out of Minneapolis with experience with historic preservation.
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A proposal for the initial work includes preparing documents for a grant application and a third-party construction cost estimate. That initial work will cost $12,000 or less.
Based on the work needed to repair the tower, the grant request will be about $250,000.
Mike Nigbur, the park and forestry division head, described the water tower as deteriorating fast.
"There's a hole in the roof, some of the stuccos are cracked and the top windows are broken and opened," he said. "Fixing the problems would be easy, but to do it in a historical manner is the challenging part."
Also included in the current repair work will be tuck pointing brick and repairing an outside stairway.
The tower was used until 1968, when city water lines were extended to the house and the house was donated to the city.
