The city of Woodstock, Ill., has rebuilt its iconic, 150-year-old courthouse, sheriff’s house and jail in the middle of Woodstock Square. It now blends the convenience and comfort of modern technology with the structure’s long heritage. The electrical service—including a complete rebuild of the previous system—was provided by Benson Electrical Contracting Inc. for general contractor Bulley & Andrews.

The courthouse was built in 1857 and the sheriff’s house in 1887. Over the following decades, the population of McHenry County grew and both buildings underwent multiple additions to accommodate the growth. They were connected around 1912. Combined, the 36,000-square-foot brick complex includes a full basement, with walls 3 feet thick. The structure is trimmed with limestone. McHenry County used the building until 1972, when a new government complex was built on the north side of town.

To save these historic buildings from demolition, a local group of investors bought the complex at auction. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2012, the City of Woodstock took over to prevent it from falling into further disrepair.

“City leaders believed they had little choice but to step in and take over the building in 2012. The alternative was to let the roof continue to deteriorate and potentially collapse,” said Darren Moore, Woodstock city planner.

A new phase for an old building

The building entered a phase where it was converted to restaurants, an art gallery, shops and a radio station. Attempts to sell the building after completing an initial stabilization made it clear that no private investor could achieve a return on investment given the state of it. The structure remained occupied until the city began the major reconstruction project in 2022, relying largely on state and federal tax credits.

“The city’s investment has been driven by the reality that the courthouse is an integral part of the fabric of Woodstock and our historic downtown square,” Moore said. “It has become part of the city’s identity, and its rehabilitation will usher in an economic revitalization of the downtown.”

Benson Electrical Contracting Inc., Crystal Lake, Ill., operates in industries such as retail and commercial, hospitality, religious institutions and warehouses. It covers a three-county area in northwest Illinois.

The company also specializes in renovations. The Old Woodstock Courthouse building required a complete rewiring, with modern lighting and fire alarms, while maintaining the integrity of a building constructed before electricity was available.

To save the historic courthouse from demolition, a local group of investors bought it at auction, and it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Restoring 170-year-old buildings is not for the faint of heart, said Ross Schaefer, senior project manager for Bulley & Andrews, Chicago. For one thing, the construction team had to install fire protection and electrical, mechanical and plumbing infrastructure into a structure that doesn’t have cavities or spaces designed for it. This was a continuation of efforts that began decades ago. It started with demolition of the old electrical system and opening the structure.

“You never know exactly what you will find when you start peeling back the layers,” Moore said. There were a few artifacts waiting for them. “We were surprised to find an underground fuel storage tank, footings extending out and down much farther than what anyone would have guessed,” as well as concrete floors laid on top of older ones. The construction team also discovered “a curious room filled with rocks and small boulders fused together with mortar.”

Installing the geothermal field under the city parking lot across the street was made more complicated by the amount of bedrock the team encountered. 

“In the end, we drilled 41 bore holes, each 450 feet deep,” Moore said.

Bringing in electrical and more

The first electrical service was installed in the sheriff’s house in 1899, and the courthouse was likely wired for lighting very close to that date. Over the next century, the service had been periodically upgraded, but it would now be fully rebuilt. By 2022, the existing electrical service was antiquated and in need of a complete upgrade.

The general timeline for accomplishing this task was just over a year, said Dan Thompson, Benson’s estimator and project manager. Benson Electrical came on-site in January 2022 and began the demolition work in March. During the demo phase, Benson removed all cable, wire and fixtures, panels and switchgear, with the exception of a limited amount of wiring to use for temporary power during the rebuild project.

To preserve local history, the city stored selected fixtures, which were reinstalled in their original places after the electrical construction. Many of the existing ceilings were saved to keep the historical integrity of the building.

In the meantime, Benson Electrical rewired the entire building. The staff coordinated with subcontractors that brought the building up to date with HVAC and a geothermal system. Benson’s team of about six electricians then wired the new HVAC equipment, pumps and VFDs. For low-voltage work, the subcontractor installed a new fire alarm and a new voice evacuation system.

“The entire project has been challenging,” Thompson said.

Routing large conduits through walls that were never built to accommodate them was a challenge. Conduit and wire needed to be hidden while the team could not access many of the ceilings being preserved for historical integrity.

“Many of the conduits were channeled into the old brick walls in order to conceal them,” Thompson said.

When it came to lighting, there were 50 different fixture types planned for the project. Studio GWA selected the fixtures Benson installed, new and old, that would reflect the heritage of the courthouse.

Benson also installed one 2,000A 120/208 service and another 800A 120/208 service. It built in six 100A panels, four 200A panels, one 300A panel and two 400A panels. Electricians also installed a single 600A and 1,200A panel.

One of the key challenges was a matter of equipment supply. Benson used some creativity and suppliers’ support to provide the panel, switchgears and breakers as needed. On most projects like this in today’s economy, supply chain challenges have been extreme, Schaefer said. That meant Benson Electrical teamed up with a custom switchgear builder, since the large supply houses were quoting lead times that would have been well past the end of the project. Many suppliers were predicting a delay of a year for new switchgear.

The custom switchgear building still took months as the outsourced company was backed up with orders, Thompson said. The panels also had to be outsourced.

Numerous changes and bulletins meant that the team also had to coordinate closely to ensure the project stayed on time and met the city’s requirements. Much of that was managed using BIM tools.

“Benson’s detailer brought a lot of good ideas and concepts to the table for how to make it all work,” Schaefer said.

A new lease for a historic structure

The relatively complicated light fixture package also required coordination with suppliers, and Benson Electrical installed it to maintain the look of the initial fixtures while providing the capabilities of modern lighting. In cases where fixtures weren’t available on time, Benson obtained alternates that were, in some cases, “a good improvement on the project, and helped hit that value target better,” Schaefer said.

Staffing in the current environment has been a challenge for a lot of subcontractors, he noted, and Benson Electrical had about six electricians during peak work times. Numerous bulletins throughout the project also kept the contractors working to achieve design updates based on changed drawings from the design team that modified the scope of the project.

At times, Schaefer said, “we may not be finished processing one bulletin, and then a new bulletin comes out and changes something that you’re previously working on, so it’s this overlapping challenge that happens.”

Because Benson Electrical’s team is local, workers brought a regional interest in restoring the historical heart of the Woodstock community. Benson Electrical was able to meet the variety of challenges posed by the economy and the design requirements of a historic building. 

“They’ve been a very good trade partner for us on the project, which has helped us meet all the challenges,” Schaefer said.

“It’s been exciting to see this historic building coming back to life after so many years of it being underutilized,” said Dan Thompson, Benson Electrical’s estimator and project manager.

“It’s been exciting to see this historic building coming back to life after so many years of it being underutilized,” Thompson said. “Being from this town, it’s been great to see the city invest in this project.”

The newly minted Old Courthouse Center now represents the commitment the residents of Woodstock have to the community and its history, Moore said. “We believe this grand historic preservation project will make this building a draw for visitors to the area, an economic engine, and a point of civic pride for the coming century and beyond.”

The building is nearly fully leased in advance of its reopening this summer. Once it is completely renovated, tenants will include a wedding and banquet venue, a microbrewery and bar, a restaurant, an incubator kitchen and retail, arts and crafts studios, as well as Chamber of Commerce offices and a visitor welcome center.  

City of Woodstock