DECATUR — The Governor Oglesby Mansion won’t look much different next weekend when it reopens for the season.
But important work was completed last month to improve the historic landmark’s energy efficiency to better preserve the structure and its contents and so people might be able to see it year-round.
“If someone wants to use it in the dead of winter, it will be less costly to heat it,” said Mary Turner, vice president of the mansion’s board of directors. “The primary reason for doing this, however, is to protect the collection and the house.”
The $6,120 project, 75 percent of which was paid for by federal stimulus funds awarded through the Macon County Regional Planning Commission, involved sealing a hole in the roof that once accommodated a flue stack and boarding up the attic’s windows before lining the area with fiberglass insulation.
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Paul Marien, operations manager with the Macon County Conservation District, said an energy audit of the mansion indicates the energy cost savings will run about $400 annually.
“It’s a big, 5,000-square-foot house that has cost anywhere from $4,800 to $6,500 a year for gas and electric,” Marien said. “It will take quite a while to pay the investment off, but at least you’re getting a return immediately.”
Richard Oglesby, who built the mansion in 1874 and lived there until moving away in 1881, was governor of Illinois before and after living there.
His former home is open from 2 to 4 p.m. the last Sunday of the month from March through November and 1 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays in June, July and August, but those hours could expand.
“That would require more volunteers, but we’re working toward being open as many hours as we possibly can,” Turner said.
Nate Hale, project manager for Otto Baum Co., said the only special challenge was finding a two consecutive nice days so workers could carry the insulation up to the attic without the added expense of putting plastic down to protect the mansion’s stairs and floors.
Neither foreman Ryan Maurer nor laborer Matt Filchak, both members of Building and Common Laborers Local 159, had been to the mansion before.
“I’ve driven this street 100 times and never knew this was here,” Maurer said. “This is a pretty neat place.”
The mansion, featured on the cover of the current issue of Historic Illinois magazine, also recently received a $400 grant from the Illinois Association of Museums toward the $800 cost of a fireproof file cabinet for photographs, documents and records.
Special events coming up include a spring tea from 2 to 4 p.m. April 30, and a free traveling exhibit soon will begin making the rounds of area public libraries, bank lobbies and historical museums once again.
The exhibit consists of three retractable panels, focusing on a different stage of Gov. Richard Oglesby’s life and is available for three-week periods beginning April 18. Contact Turner by e-mailing mturner4626@aol.com or calling 963-1960.
The mansion also may be reserved by calling 423-7708.
tchurchill@herald-review.com/421-7978
