Illinois Supreme Court Building Reveals $16 Million Improvement Project

NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS | By Hannah Meisel

Published August 27, 2014 at 5:45 PM CDT

The Illinois Supreme Court will start conducting its business in Springfield once again next month. The justices had been displaced for the past year while their building was renovated, restoring the building to many of its original design features.As Hannah Meisel reports, much of the $16 million spent to rehab the Illinois Supreme Court building was put toward a new heating and air conditioning system.

For most of the last year, the court building, across from the State Capitol in Springfield, was separated from the public by orange plastic fencing and lots of construction dust.

The project was paid for by selling state bonds, part of the larger rehab project that also restored part of the statehouse last year — including those now-infamous, $670,000 copper doors.

The bulk of the $16 million spent on Supreme Court building was put toward replacing the heating and air conditioning for the building. Other renovations included restoring murals in the courtrooms, fixing a water table issue in the basement (where court records are stored), and adding a women's restroom to the court's chambers.

Chief Justice Rita Garman says the one-bathroom situation had left female justices leaving the chambers to find a public restroom.

"Which is problematic when the court's in session, we're hearing oral arguments, because there can be members of the public and other attorneys in there and we really need to have separation at that point in time," she said.

The project's architect says unpredictable humidity in the building took its toll on important court documents, plaster murals, and even warped a fist-sized hole in a wooden column.

The justice's living areas upstairs, where they stay four nights out of the week when the court is in session, was mostly left alone, save for a fresh coat of paint.

Chief Justice Rita Garman and Justice Anne Burke tour the newly renovated Supreme Court on Wednesday. The Court resumes in Springfield in September after spending the last year in Chicago.

The basement of the Supreme Court houses all the court's original documents. The water table under the building is so high that when construction began last fall, the basement's floor revealed a natural spring.

The mural in the main courtroom had developed a bulge, due to humidity. The restored plaster and paint look down on the court during oral arguments, usually heard in the fall.