Preservation Society Warns Restoration for Governor’s Mansion is Critical

The state Mansion Preservation Society wants the state to help fund much-needed structural repairs to the governor’s mansion. So it’s pushing for the general assembly to approve appropriations that would go toward repairing a leaky roof that hasn’t been replaced since the 1960s and window that haven’t ever been replaced in the 135-year-old building. Director Mary Pat Abele says one pane from the third floor has even fallen out. She adds that at one point birds were flying in and out through the rotted structure. The society covers interior repair costs to sagging ceilings, worn flooring, faded furniture and torn décor through private donations. But Abele says those problems are recurrent because the society can’t finance the bigger structural problems, which are causing the interior damage. She hopes the preservation society and the legislature can work together in a joint effort to restore the mansion.