Shedding New Light on the St. Charles Municipal Center

Members of both the St. Charles City Council and the Historic Preservation Commission gathered outside the Municipal Center to consider the aesthetics of potential new display lighting for the historic structure.

Dedicated in 1940, the St. Charles Municipal Center, 2 E. Main St., features an 84-foot tower. Lights have illuminated the tower and the sides of the white building for decades. But local officials got a chance Monday evening, July 22, 2013,  to see how the building’s lighting likely was originally intended.

Both the floodlights that highlight the vertical windows inset in the tower, and those illuminating the sides of the building’s lower level and surrounding plaza have changed over time. City officials and the Historic Preservation Commission are considering changing the lights with an eye toward returning the building’s original nighttime lustre.

Visitors on Monday night were able to see different styles of lighting — but the change on the lower level appeared to be more dramatic.

The lower level lighting now is amber, casting a dingy, yellow pall on the exterior of the building. By contrast, workers who have been doing repairing the exterior of the center held up brilliant white lights that made the sides of the structure more dazzling in the darkness.

St. Charles Public Works Director Mark Koenen said the new lights are more costly and are being evaluated now by the Historic Preservation Commission.

According to the city’s website, St. Charles Municipal Center’s construction was the result of a  donation from Col. Edward J. Baker and Mr. and Mrs. Lester J. Norris.

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