Board OKs $1.5 million renovation of governor's offices in Pennsylvania Capitol

HARRISBURG — The group that oversees maintenance and construction in the Pennsylvania Capitol voted unanimously Wednesday to spend nearly $1.5 million to renovate the governor’s suite.

The Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee authorized an overhaul of the 10-room suite that is expected to be finished by year’s end.

The work will include painting, marble cleaning, flooring, as well as removal of a wall to return the area to conditions when it was built in 1906. New heating and air conditioning is being installed separately.

The chairman, Sen. John Gordner, R-Columbia, said Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has been supportive of the renovations but did not request them. It’s the last part of the Capitol that has not been extensively renovated in recent decades.

Wolf’s spokesperson said the offices have been empty, with employees working remotely, during the covid-19 pandemic.

Some prep work has already begun, including removal of carpeting and storage of the gubernatorial portraits that lined the wood paneled offices.

Albert Michaels Conservation Inc. of Harrisburg won the contract, and work could get under way in earnest in the coming weeks.