Nassau Hall: Restoration Has People Looking Up

Danielle Alio/Office of Communications

The scaffolding and fencing that surrounded Nassau Hall have been removed, the Class of 1879 tigers at the front entrance have been unboxed, and the cupola has a fresh look after six months of renovations and replacement of the building’s slate roof. The cupola was restored and repainted, the 5-foot-wide clock faces were resurfaced and gold leaf applied to the numerals, the cupola’s dome was covered in 10,000 pounds of new copper, and the weather vane — which had rusted in place — can turn once again.

 “The cupola and roof should look the same, only better,” said project manager Alexis Mutschler. The biggest change is the copper-penny color of the cupola’s dome — it will take about 20 years to form the turquoise-green patina alumni are used to seeing.