The Brighton Town Hall Restoration and Addition Project Report

Citizens' Committee - July, 2004

The Brighton Town Hall, a small, attractive, one-story shingled craftsman style bungalow, was designed and built in 1914 by local master builder Ben Muncil, builder of many great camps in Brighton, including Marjorie Merriweather Post's Camp Topridge and President Coolidge's 1926 summer White House, White Pine Camp. Located at the intersection of State Rte.86 and County Rte.31 (Jones Pond Road) at the base of the Easy Street settlement, the land for the Town Hall was donated by the Paul Smith's Hotel Company. In 2003 the Brighton Town Hall was placed on the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places.

The Town Hall was built to serve as a meeting place for the town board, the town court, and for many citizen groups. However, as town business has grown over the years, the meeting area has become crowded with desks, files, and business machines and the addition of walls and a closet. Repairs to the building are also needed.

The Citizens' Committee recommends repairing and restoring the building as much as possible to the original. To restore space in the meeting area for the court and group events and to accommodate current and future uses, the committee also recommends a modest addition to the back of the building in a way appropriate to its historic nature.

To start this process, the New York State Council on the Arts Technical Assistance Program provided matching funds to the Town of Brighton for a Reuse Design and Limited Conditions Assessment Report done by the noted preservation architectural firm of Crawford and Steams in October, 2003. Their report highlighted some features which need attention: the front porch stone piers, stairs, and railings, and the wooden trim on the exterior need repair; lighting fixtures, doors and windows should have historic reproduction replacements; the heating system needs replacement; the floor supports need inspection, old insulation removed, and a vapor barrier installed to prevent rot; repointing of the foundation and new insulation may be necessary; electrical, plumbing, water heating, and ventilation systems need upgrading; new space-efficient furniture is needed. The report planned an addition to the back of the building providing space for town business equipment and restoring space in the meeting area.

The town has contracted with Crawford and Steams to complete the conditions assessment, and when finalized plans are approved by the town, create architectural drawings for restorations, rearrangement of the interior, and an addition to the back of the building. The Committee is proposing that the town should proceed with design, repairs, restoration and the addition as finances will allow. The estimated total cost for the three- to five-year project is about $170,000 to be funded by grants, donations, and a minimum of town funds.

For more information, or to help the Citizens' Committee, or to express your opinion about this proposed project, contact Pat Willis, Co-Chair, Citizens Committee for the Brighton Town all at 327-3433 or pwillis@northnet.com, or Lydia Wright at 327-3485 or wrightl@paulsmiths.edu.

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