New London City Hall

Originally constructed in 1856, the New London City Hall once sat amidst rows of residential buildings, but was remodeled in the classical Beaux-Arts exterior in 1912 by New London architect James Sweeney to have a more appealing presence among the flourishing commercial district of the early 20th century.

The project scope required Grand Light to remove, completely restore, and to reinstall the early 20th century cast iron exterior lighting standards at the front entry of the City Hall. The restoration included the replication of (8) cast acorn finials, (3) decorative crown filigrees, new center rods which hold the standards together in place, and all of the globes. The globes were made of
acrylic for better UV resistance and had custom spun metal necks so they would fit flush inside the fitters since these fitters were not a standard size.

Grand Light disassembled and removed the historic standards on-site, without causing any disruption to the daily activities of the City Hall. Each standard was removed utilizing a combination of a lull forklift, portable power-lifts, and ladders to carefully disassemble all metal components to safely pack for transportation. The City Hall is about three blocks from the Long Island Sounds and these standards had severe rust and rot to most of the components that were made of cast iron. We used scaling methods to remove the existing paint and areas of rot, then media blasted the surface using a 120 grit garnet to give a slight profile to accept the top coat. Excessive rot and deteriorated components were replaced with matching replications.

An extended life black finish vinyl resin was applied to the fixtures, and multiple applications of a UV resistant lacquer top coat was added for protection against the elements of a coastal environment.

All fixtures were rewired with UL listed components, HIPOT tested in accordance with UL standard 1598, and received new energy efficient LED lamps.

Additionally, the massive standard metal bottom base component could not be removed from the precast concrete bases, so all surface preparation and refinishing work was performed entirely on-site. Grand Light planned, mobilized and executed this on-site work with a team of four artisans in only one day.