Doomed Essex County Jail may be in for reprieve

By LOHR McKINSTRY
Staff Writer

May 06, 2008 06:05 am

— ELIZABETHOWN -- Its demolition shelved for now, Essex County is considering keeping the old County Jail and finding new uses for it.
The 24-bed brick jail at the county complex was built in 1878 and hasn't held any prisoners for three years.
The new County Jail at Lewis opened in October 2007, and the County Sheriff's Department moved completely out of the old jail then.
On Monday, Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah) said the County Board of Supervisors should keep the now-vacant jail instead of tearing it down.
The first part of the project -- moving the county's modular jail -- was tabled last Monday at the County Ways and Means session.
The county has established a $500,000 capital project to demolish the old jail and move the modular jail to Lewis, but the work is on hold. Of the bond issue, about $146,000 would have gone to moving the 21-cot modular jail to the Department of Public Works compound and up to $350,000 to demolish the old jail.
The county has bids for moving the modular jail, but no bids had been sought for demolition of the old jail.
Scozzafava said the County Space Committee had recommended tearing down the jail.
"I'm hopeful the Space Committee will seriously rethink tearing that building down. There are some uses for that building."
Adirondack Architectural Heritage Executive Director Steven Engelhart has asked the Board of Supervisors to keep the jail as a historic structure.
"We'd like to see the county study the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the building before making a final decision about its fate. Because of its historic and architectural importance, this is an instance where the county should take some time to study its rehabilitation and reuse before rushing to the judgment that it cannot be reused and that it should be torn down."
The county has so far not done engineering or architectural studies of the building, he said.
"It's easy for a layperson to say that keeping the building would be a money pit for the county, but the only way to know is to do a professional assessment."
Engelhart said a jail doesn't endear itself to the populace like a schoolhouse or other public building, but the old County Jail is still architecturally attractive.
"It was designed to reflect colonial and classic elements found nowhere else in the county complex. The brickwork, stone details and wooden ornament around the doors, windows and eaves are noteworthy."
He said AARCH would be pleased to work with the county to find funding sources to pay to study the preservation and continued use of the jail.
One use might be as a movie set, Scozzafava said.
He said producers of the film "Mineville," set to start filming in Essex County in September, have asked for permission to film inside the old jail.
Supervisor Gerald Morrow (D-Chesterfield) joked he'd heard Scozzafava wants to play the sheriff in the movie but believes another role would be more suitable.
"I think he'll be one of the inmates," Morrow said.
"Very appropriate," Supervisor Ronald Jackson (R-Essex) said.
lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com

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