The building name and construction start date (1889  or ADMDCCCLXXXIX) will be carved above the 4th Street entrance.  This project marks an important first in MBC history because it is being fully funded without taxpayer dollars.  This project will be funded 100% by the Historic Preservation (HP) account at a cost of approximately $150,000. The Fund was established in 2004 and income is generated in large part by the building’s event and catering program.  Additional revenue comes from the café/deli, vending machine sales and building memorabilia sales.  The fund is designated for projects involving the preservation and restoration of the building.  The success of these programs has been instrumental in making this project possible. The Minneapolis Architectural firm of MacDonald & Mack Architects was selected as the design team for the project and Building Restoration Corporation of Minneapolis was selected as the General Contractor.

The HP fund is used to support preservation activities related to the Minneapolis City Hall & Hennepin County Courthouse. HP projects are defined as any activity keeping with the mission to provide effective and efficient services to operate, maintain, & preserve the historic landmark building and ensure a safe & functional environment for government employees, citizens, & elected officials. All projects using MBC Historic Preservation Funds are brought before the MBC Board for approval.

Trajan Font 

The lettered inscription on the base of Trajan's Column in Rome is often regarded as one of the best models of the Imperial Roman alphabet and has been used as the base inspiration for today’s Trajan font. 

While Roman handwriting was very different from Roman monumental lettering whether hand painted, engraved, cut out of metal, or cut into stone. The letters on Trajan's Column represent one of the best remaining example from antiquity. Trajan's Column, and samples like it, would go on to influence the development of the Roman alphabet, and later typeface design, for the next 2,000 years.

What was so special about the Roman's inscriptional lettering? The Romans—who did not invent the idea of the alphabet—were the first to put serifs on their letters. It is speculated that the serif's (line at the end of the strokes of a letter) origin was the result of applying a brush to the stone before it was carved. Others speculate the serifs were purely an aesthetic addition, put there by the stone carver(s).

Source: typophile.com

 Carving Process:

On October 18, 2006 the MBC board approved the completion of  the originally conceived granite carving completed on the granite panels above the Fourth Street entrance, (how the name was originally intended to appear on the building).

Scaled drawings of the wording and font spaces were created by the General Contractor, Building Restoration Corporation, and the stone carver, M. Andy DelGallo (owner of Eastern Monuments )for review and approval. After approval a full scale, hand carved, mockup of the letter “R” was carved into carnelian granite, which matches the building’s Ortonville granite in composition. The sample “R” is on display in the Rotunda. While granite is much harder on the tools, it produces tighter, cleaner and crisper lines that other stones such as limestone.

For the onsite carving process a full size template of the letter and layout will be placed on the building. This template will be used by the professional carver to outline his work area to be carved. After that step the carver will use his skills to cut, carve, and shape the recessed interior faces of each letter.

Today, stone carving is performed by highly skilled artisans that utilize hand held specialty tools that are both pneumatic and hand powered. Granite will be removed utilizing special hand held pneumatic saws. Using this tool allows for the carver to score the edges of the letters and it produces a precision cut with crisp lines. The cutting is followed by carving the letters to the shapes desired with high speed, low impact pneumatic chipping hammers that allow finer details to be placed in the stone. The inside surface of the letters are then chiseled to leave “chasings” (or hand chiseled marks) The chasings help to detail the hand work that was performed to create the letters. 

Pedestrian building access will be maintained throughout the entire project.

The Carver

Andy Del Gallo from Manassas, Virginia. Mr. Del Gallo is the founder of Eastern Memorials and has been carving stone for the past 21 years. Del Gallo estimates that he has completed over 400 letter carving projects in just 10 years.

Many of those 400 projects were highly regarded such his hand carved words “I Have a Dream” into the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That carving was commissioned to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech.

Selecting the carver:

A request for proposals was released on October of 2009 and in November 2009 three separate carver contractor partnerships submitted their proposals. A panel of internal and external reviewers carefully reviewed the proposals and selected the one that best met the following criteria:

• Qualifications and experience of staff
• Quality of references
• How well the scope of services offered mets MBC objectives
• Financial responsibility and capacity of company
• Organization and management approach
• Cost of services proposed
• Quality, thoroughness and clarity of proposal

Image Gallery: Carving Project

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