The scaffolding is up and the Gothic chandeliers are down in the Reading Room at the William W. Cook Legal Research Building, where major restoration work is underway as part of a $3 million lighting improvement project at the Law School.
The project, which also will upgrade lighting at Hutchins Hall, was made possible by a gift from Charles Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Munger was taking a Law School tour in 2006 when he noticed the uneven lighting in the school’s public areas, and made the $3 million gift about a year later.
Besides the 22 chandeliers, which already have been shipped off for restoration, the Reading Room project also includes restoration of dozens of table lamps, refinishing of tables and cleaning of the room’s intricately decorated 60-foot vaulted ceiling. Workers also will install new lighting to make it easier to see that ceiling, and upgrade the 1930s-era wiring found throughout the Reading Room and Hutchins Hall.
Although the Reading Room temporarily is closed to students as a study space, faculty and clinic offices around the perimeter remain open.
