Nearly a century after the cornerstone was laid, the Belltower’s construction will finally be complete.
The project is being funded by the Henry family, and will include the addition of 54 bells, replacing the speakers that currently make the Belltower ring, as well as provide greater accessibility and renovated masonry.
According to Lisa Johnson, NC State’s university architect, water was getting into the Belltower and harming the shrine room, damaging the marble plaque with the names of NC State soldiers killed during World War I. The plaque was then moved off-site and a replica was put in its place.
Once the moisture problem is taken care of, the marble plaque will be repaired and returned to the Belltower, Johnson said.
“A few years ago, we had to take up all the paving that was around the base — not up on the plinth; that kind of gravely paving … that wasn’t original,” Johnson said. “So we’re going to replace that back to the historic design.”
The plinth is the elevated base of the Belltower, which currently can only be accessed with stairs.
“We’re also going to make the … plinth accessible, so everyone can get up and get their picture taken on the plinth if they want to,” Johnson said. “So if you’re in a wheelchair now, you can’t go up there and have your picture taken, or if you have trouble maneuvering steps. The design is going to take care of that in a very tasteful way.”
Cameron Smith, senior director of Capital Project Management, discussed the timeline of the restoration project.
The project is still early in the design process and the advanced planning phase is not complete, according to Smith. He further explained that the schedule is dynamic and could change over the course of the next year.
“Right now, it looks like we would finish up design around November of this year,” Smith said. “We would actually start construction late January of 2020, and then we were hoping to finish it in January of 2021. So, it’s about a year’s worth of construction.”
Smith also said that efforts will be made to ensure that the Belltower will be available to students for the ring ceremony and to take graduation photos, despite the construction.
“Our design and construction team will make every effort to work around those special events,” Smith said. “We are doing quite a bit of work to the site around the Belltower, so it may not look as pristine as it does today, but we do want students to be able to get to the tower, put their class rings in the tower, so we’re going to do our best to accommodate those events.”
Smith said that having the construction during graduation could be unique; students could say that they graduated and took photos as the Belltower was finally being completed.
“[It’s] a pretty big deal for the university, to finally finish the Belltower,” Smith said. “It’s really never been finished.”
Johnson talked about the value in making sure the site is perfect.
“We really just want to honor the site,” Johnson said. “It’s our most iconic, hallowed place.”
