Historic Sheriff’s House at First State National Historical Park in New Castle, DE

The Historic Sheriff’s House was originally constructed in 1857 and is the last remaining structure from Delaware’s first prison system. Between 1902 and the present the building was occupied by multiple notable tenants including the New Castle Club and the Police Headquarters but has been unoccupied since 1990.

The building was donated to the NPS in 2013 by the State of Delaware and will be utilized as the central visitor contact station for the First State National Park. This project is intended to correct deferred maintenance and set the facility to reopen for visitors.

Within the scope of this project, AFG will provide CM services to rehabilitate the Sheriff’s House for occupancy and provide renovations and allocation of the interior spaces for park operations, visitor services, and additional office spaces. The adaptive reuse and occupancy of this building require structural reinforcement, installation of heating and ventilation systems, electrical systems, potable water, and sanitary sewer, communications and IT systems, physical security hardware and monitoring systems, and fire protection and life safety systems. Interior and Exterior historic fabric and elements will be repaired and restored as appropriate.

Extensive restoration will be required for both exterior and interior treatments. Exterior tasks include repair of the masonry stairs at the front façade, copings of the masonry walls being repointed and reset, moisture penetration issues, and restoration of deteriorated masonry.

For the interior of the Sheriff’s House, a combination of historic preservation rehabilitation and modern systems improvements are necessary. Historic finishes will be rehabilitated, and structural deficiencies corrected with modern HVAC, fire protection, life safety systems, plumbing, and electrical systems being installed over the course of the project.