7/17/03
The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History (WVDCH) has announced that URS Corporation, an international engineering and architectural firm with offices in Charleston, has been selected to assist with plans to stabilize and preserve the former Weston State Hospital.
The Civil War-era facility, one of the largest hand-cut stone masonry buildings in the nation, was named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in 1990. The psychiatric hospital was closed in 1994 when the nearby William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital opened in Jane Lew.
Funds for the revitalization project were made available by a $750,000 grant from the National Park Services “Save America’s Treasures” initiative and matching funds from the West Virginia Legislature. The project is being administered by the West Hospital Task Force, which is led by WVDCH. Other task force members include representatives of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, West Virginia Division of Tourism, Office of the Governor, West Virginia Development Office, Lewis County Commission and Weston Revitalization Committee.
For more information, contact Susan Pierce, director of the WVDCH State Historic Preservation Office, at (304) 558-0240, or Joy Stalnaker, local project manager for the hospital task force and chairman of the revitalization committee, at (304) 269-7091.
The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Visit the Division’s website at www.wvculture.org for more information about programs of the Division. The Department of Arts, Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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Ginny Painter
Director of Public Information
West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History
The Cultural Center
1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East
Charleston, WV 25305-0300
Phone (304) 558-0220
Fax (304) 558-2779
ginny.painter@wvculture.org