As the workers at the surrounding Lancaster County Convention Center prepare for an opening this month, the old buildings at the corner of South Queen and East Vine streets appear to be a long way from being ready for their close-up.

Scaffolding — and behind that, boarded windows — cover the face of the former home and law office of Thaddeus Stevens and the Kleiss Saloon.

The buildings are slated to become a museum to abolitionist Stevens, Lancaster's Civil War-era congressman, and his housekeeper, Lydia Hamilton Smith.

And, the initial exterior renovations were slated to be done in time for the opening of the convention center and Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square hotel, now expected in less than three weeks.

In a move meant to speed the work and cut costs, the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County last week cut the two staff positions dedicated to establishing the museum and closed the separate Stevens-Smith office.

"This has not diminished the scope of the project at all," Historic Preservation Trust Executive Director Tim Smedick said of the moves. "The board felt that this is a business decision that puts us in a better position to move forward with the project."

The decision was made by board members of the architectural preservation organization on Wednesday, May 27.

Gail Tomlinson, the former Stevens-Smith Historical Site director, and Dave Foulk, the project's former development director, were notified that their jobs had been eliminated on Friday.

Smedick emphasized the changes were "done without malice," and the moves will save "many thousands of dollars." He did not have a figure for the anticipated savings, he said.

Nancy Bell, the Trust's board chairwoman, did not return a call for comment this morning.

Tomlinson and Foulk's duties will now shift to staff and volunteers working from the Preservation Trust's North Prince Street offices, Smedick said.

The Trust's Preservation Action Committee will begin addressing the completion of the exterior renovations.

Under the terms of a 2006 agreement with the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority, those renovations are supposed to be done in time for the center opening.

Construction company Caldwell, Heckles & Egan, working for the Trust, is returning the front of Stevens' former home to its appearance when he lived there in the 1860s.

A white-brick facade and a third floor, both later additions, have been removed and dormer windows have been recreated.

That $6.5 million first phase of the project also includes significant work to an underground exhibit area around a cistern that was discovered behind Stevens' home. Archeologists believe the cistern may have been used to hide runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.

The interior renovations, including the design and installation of exhibits, is expected to cost about $5.5 million. The museum is slated to open three years after the meeting center and hotel.

Smedick said the interior phase will not begin until the money is raised through a national fund-raising campaign. The Trust will soon name a campaign chairman to begin that effort.

More than $7 million in private donations and public grants was raised for the first phase, Smedick said.

Eventually, the Trust hopes to raise another $8 million, for a total $20 million project cost, for a museum educational center and the renovation of the former Swan Hotel across East Vine Street.

"It's been a good couple of years," said Tomlinson, who moved to Lancaster from Philadelphia to head the project. "But the economy has hit hard. The board had a hard decision to make and they made it," she added.

"My only tinge of regret is that I don't get to follow it through, except from the sidelines."

The $174.4 million hotel and convention center project is a joint venture of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster, Lancaster County Convention Center Authority and private developer Penn Square Partners.

Penn Square Partners consists of general partner Penn Square General LP, a High Real Estate Group LLC affiliate, and limited partner Penn Square Ltd., LLC, an affiliate of Lancaster Newspapers, Inc., publisher of the Lancaster New Era, Intelligencer Journal and Sunday News.


Staff writer Bernard Harris can be reached at bharris@LNPnews.com or 481-6022. blog comments powered by Disqus