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White is the colour of purity, innocence, light. And now, our City Hall!

After its just-approved $6.5 million facelift, will the Civic Centre disappear in a snowstorm?
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The original brown-and-gold colours are no longer available. So your City Council has decided to make the place white as the driven snow

Like Donald Trump, Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Christian Provenzano will soon have his own White House.

After 42 years dressed resplendently in shimmering gold and brown, our Civic Centre will soon be draped in virtuous white.

The facelift, approved Monday night by City Council, is considered necessary because of corrosion, seal failures and air and water barrier deficiencies.

The estimated $6.5 million price tag will cost 51 per cent more than building's original $4.3 million cost, which included the building site and all furnishings.

City Council voted to proceed with designing and tendering the new glazing and aluminum wall system with aluminum composite panels.

Once the tender price is known, the project will be brought back to City Council for approval of financing options and awarding of the contract.

Architectural renderings of the re-clad waterfront landmark were unveiled Monday by Morrison Hershfield Ltd. engineers and RDHA Architects.

Councillors rejected a similar but more expensive proposal that would have added a perforated aluminum screen around the City Council chambers, extending up to the mechanical room louvers.

Dedicated on Dec. 16, 1974 and opened for business on May 5, 1975, the Civic Centre was built on land reclaimed from the St. Marys River at the site of the old ferry dock .

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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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