Scaffolding at City Hall nearly complete; radio antenna to be removed soon

posted on 9/2/2022

Scaffolding around City Hall's clock tower is nearly complete, allowing rehabilitation work to begin.

Once the scaffolding work is complete, the former police station radio tower will be removed from the roof of City Hall. That work is currently anticipated to occur the week of Sept. 12. An earlier date for the removal was posted in the Sept. 2 edition of Dover Download, but that date has since been changed. The removal will require City Hall's back entrance to the Customer Service Center to be closed to allow the operation of a crane and the safe removal of the antenna. The plan is to remove the antenna in pieces.

When the Locust Street entrance is closed, the Customer Service Center will be accessible through City Hall's other doors, including the ADA-accessible entrance on Hale Street. Elevator service to City Hall's upper floors should also be back in operation at that time. The elevator has been out of order since mid-August to allow the installation of a new hydraulic pipe for elevator operation, which involved more work than initially anticipated.

The clock tower restoration work includes repairing and restoring the gold leaf dome, copper roofing, metal sheeting and clock faces. It also includes repair or replacement of bell tower horizontal slats (louvers), repair of wiring within the bell and clock tower and replacement of internal wooden bead board ceiling. Lastly, the work includes the restoration of the exterior dome, repairing clock hands and mechanisms, replacing clock glass on the clock face in front of the building, replacing the roof access door for the clock tower and painting all exterior surfaces. The clock hands and existing copper roofing will be removed in the coming weeks to allow other rehabilitation work.