Capitol remodel

The inside of the stately, 88-year-old building overlooking the city from the top of State Street looks more like some sort of ancient ruins these days than the Utah State Capitol.

Heaps of broken tile flooring are piled throughout the first floor, which also has chunks of original clay tiles exposed along the exterior walls. There's no sign of the glass display cases, and the office walls are gone, too, as the building undergoes a $200 million remodel.

But it's the basement that is the most eerily similar to a long-abandoned site. The labyrinth of offices that formerly occupied the sloping bottom floor have been demolished, leaving little but dirt.

Several feet of earth have been excavated in some spots, adding to the rubble. The dusty scene is lit only by portable lights strung here and there, and roaring gas flame heaters used to keep the building temperature up for workers and to protect its artwork.

All there is to be seen now in the basement are hundreds of wide, heavy columns on pyramid-shaped bases that support the massive granite building. There's nothing really wrong with the structures, except that they won't hold up in an earthquake.

Given that Utah is in one of the most hazardous areas in the country for earthquakes, the state is spending some $200 million to retrofit the building with "shock absorbers" that will enable it to rock back and forth in an earthquake, rather that remain rigid and then tumble.

Only about $80 million of that amount will actually go toward retrofitting the support structures. The rest will pay for all the work connected with the project, set for completion by early 2008, such as restoring the walls and floors.

So far, the project is on schedule, according to David Hart, executive director of the Capitol Preservation Board. That could change quickly as work gets under way to stabilize the earth below the building in preparation for installing the seismic equipment.

Hart said the hefty building load will be shifted temporarily to hydraulic jacks over the next 20 months during the installation process. Eventually, about two-thirds of the basement will be sealed off permanently.

That's not the end of the earthquake-proofing at the Capitol. The list of what needs to be done ranges from reinforcing the exterior walls to more securely attaching some of the decorative elements on the main floor's marble ceilings.

"It's a huge project," Hart said. "It's daunting to all of us."