The newest addition to the Annapolis government complex was dedicated Wednesday to former House of Delegates Speaker Casper Taylor Jr., culminating years of discussion and design disputes, including an expensive decades-long effort to move the public housing tenants who once lived on the site.
“This did not come without some struggles,” said current House Speaker Michael Busch. The idea for the building was germinated 12 years ago, making the process almost twice as long as the building of the original part of the State House during the Revolutionary War.
An original architectural plan, which Busch called “Georgian on steroids,” was rejected, resulting in another red-brick low-rise in the late 18th-century style in keeping with the surrounding state offices. Retiring Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, whose office is across the street, “made us stay under budget,” Busch said.
“Today is such an emotional day for me,” said Taylor, who is now a lobbyist. Even though the building bears his name, he said the real meaning is honoring all the members of the House he served with for 28 years.
Taylor initiated the project as a way to accommodate the public who had few places to sit and relax outside crowded hearing rooms. There is now a public lounge with snack items, more benches and wider hallways.
The 95,000-square-foot addition cost $39 million, including money for the renovation of the Thomas Hunter Lowe building it is connected to.
One of the hundreds on hand for the dedication was Juanita Cage Lewis, an employee of the state Housing and Community Development Department who went door to door to the residents of the 33 houses of the 61-year-old Bloomsbury Square project. “It was very difficult” to persuade them to leave, Lewis said, but federal law required it.
The state paid $7.6 million to build 52 new brick town houses and a new community center two blocks away on College Creek. It was built on a 3-acre surface parking lot that served hundreds of state employees. The parking lot was replaced with a just-finished 725-car garage that cost nearly $20 million.
