Minneapolis may soon turn back the hands of time on its signature City Hall clocks, swapping their red neon night glow for a more historically appropriate look.
Frosted glass and LED backlighting will restore the original nighttime appearance of the clock hands, which have heralded the time from their perch atop the building for more than 110 years. The building's nearly 24-foot clock faces are some of the largest in the world, trumping even the clock containing Big Ben in London.
The long-awaited renovation, which primarily involves replacing the deteriorating metal frame and clock face panels, will be reviewed by the city's heritage preservation commission Tuesday. The budget is around $2 million, split between the city and Hennepin County, which both occupy the building.
"Obviously this clock is very unique. It's a very complicated project," said Erin Delaney, director of the Municipal Building Commission, the joint agency of Minneapolis and the county that runs the building. "They just don't build clocks like this anymore."
Constructed between 1889 and 1905, City Hall is both a city-designated landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The red neon tubing on the clock hands has illuminated the Minneapolis skyline since 1949, when the clock's glass panels and copper hands were replaced with stainless steel. A report by MacDonald & Mack Architects indicates that change came after cracking was discovered on the plate glass — which had allowed for backlighting.
The appropriateness of keeping the neon arose during City Council discussion of the renovation in 2012. Then-Council Member Betsy Hodges suggested neon would have seemed quite foreign in the 19th century, adding "Does it have to be red?" Hodges, now mayor, was out of the country on Friday.
Then-Council Member Sandy Colvin Roy, who has since retired, said at the time that there would be an outcry if the lighting around the hands was removed. She was less convinced of that when contacted Friday, however.