An aged roof is being replaced on the Insurance Building this summer.
The replacement will alleviate water damage in the Insurance Building. Work will improve roof drainage, remove obsolete heating/ventilation/cooling equipment, replace some skylights, replace the roof membrane, add insulation and bring other items up to current building code. The Department of Enterprise Services has contracted with Oak Hill Construction of Algona to perform the work. There will be noise, pedestrian, parking and traffic impacts.
In general, work will occur between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. There may be extended work hours during some portions of the project. There will be staging areas for project materials on the west side of the Insurance building.
Several steps will be taken throughout the project to ensure safety and mitigate impacts:
Contact: Project Coordinator Hamed Khalili, Hamed.Khalili@des.wa.gov, (360) 407-7979.
Built in 1921, the Insurance Building features a narrow, rectangular footprint of approximately 98,000 cubic feet. It is four-stories with a below-grade partial basement. While technically a three-story building from the exterior, the fourth floor is set just beneath the gable roof, bounded by the balustrade and illuminated by skylights and round roof dormers.
Located at the northeast corner of 14th Avenue Southwest and Cherry Lane Southwest, the Insurance Building defines the eastern edge of Wilder and White’s Capitol Group. Situated immediately east of the Legislative Building and as the second building designed for the Capitol by Wilder and White, the Insurance Building’s construction solidified the arrangement and ultimate group placement.
The exterior form displays the quiet rooflines, pediment porticoes and linteled window and door openings, characteristic of Neo-Classical Revival style. The buff-colored Wilkeson sandstone cladding and Index granite base integrate the building within the core Capitol Group.
The Insurance Building is included in the National Register listed under the Washington State Capitol Historic District (1979) as a contributing resource.