This Courtroom once served as the county seat, and was designed to be so magnificent and regal that anyone who witnessed it would be awestruck by the sophistication of this little mountain town.
In 2020, Buena Vista Heritage began a three-year-long journey to restore this monumental space to its original glory.
What started with fixing the two windows that tended to leak snow in the winter blossomed into a meticulous project that left behind a beautiful courtroom.
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Back in December 2021, we received the incredible news that the Colorado SHF was awarding Buena Vista Heritage over a quarter of a million dollars to restore the courtroom. We were astounded and honored.
We started with the doors and windows. The oversized entry doors at the top of the stairs as well as the two historic doors flanking the main entrance were in decent condition, but missing the original hardware. At some point in the room’s history, the two side doors had transom windows, but those had long since been removed and boarded up. Minor repairs were made to the wood of the doors and frames, and new transom windows were installed. All the windows were restored off-site, and then doors and windows were painted and faux-grained. Any original hardware was reinstalled, but many replicas were necessary.
The fire escape door on the north wall posed a different set of problems. It was a later addition to the building and has weathered poorly. There is an obvious gap at the top of the door where light is visible and where snow enters during storms, plus the door neither latches nor opens easily. This door will be replaced with one custom designed to fit into the skewed frame. It will also be finished to match the aesthetics of the other doors in the courtroom and properly marked as a fire exit.
The restoration of the courtroom walls and ceiling was a massive undertaking. The room has historic plaster-covered masonry on the walls. All the original trim and baseboards were still in place but had been painted over many times. Before we replaced the roof, water leaks caused damage to the plaster, and it was chipping away to reveal portions of the underlying masonry. A team of skilled plasterers spent weeks artfully repairing the damaged plaster. When it came time to repaint, we were able to restore the room to its original colors, which were established by laboratory testing on small samples of the wall.
Finally, we restored the oak floors. The courtroom floor has served as a place for gathering, eating, dancing, and celebrating for over a century. They were dented, scratched, chipped, and the finish flaked off in places. It took three days of sanding to clean them down to bare wood before a new coat of finish could be put on. Now they’re ready to host another century of celebrations.
The judge’s bench, and the chair behind it, are original to this building. It served as the judge’s seat for around 50 years, then survived another 40 years as part of the schoolhouse. In the years since the Courthouse became a museum, efforts have been made to stabilize this irreplaceable piece of history. We hope to receive financial support for the Colorado State Historic Fund to properly restore it.
There are still surviving details on this unique piece of furniture that speak to the effort the original builders put in to make it as magnificent as the room in which it resides. The hinges on the front match those used on the doors in the rest of the building. The entire façade was once faux-grained to match the doors and baseboards in the Courtroom. Most likely, the entire bench was once mounted on a platform, allowing for the judge to sit slightly higher than anyone else in the room.
The Judge’s Bench
Picture Yourself Here
Today, this room is available as a venue for private events, weddings, and other special occasions.