In the 1970s, when Baltimore’s stately City Hall was showing 100 years of wear, there was a debate about demolishing the historic structure and starting anew.

Preservationists prevailed and opted to update the existing building, which has remained the seat of Baltimore’s political power and a symbol of civic pride in the heart of the city.

Now, as Baltimore City Hall enters its 150th year, city leaders are doubling down on that decision. Work will get underway in the spring on the building’s roof and cast iron dome. The $11.8 million investment, on top of the $12.5 million spent recently on stonework renovations, will complete an exterior rehabilitation of City Hall that will carry the building years into the future.

Built in the French Second Empire style, the height of American architectural fashion at the time, Baltimore City Hall was dedicated in April 1875 after eight years of construction.

“The structure is an ornament to the City and a monument to the honest administration of public affairs,” The Baltimore Sun wrote at the time, noting a rare $228,000 in cost savings over the budget for the “imposing pile.”

Builders, following plans from architect George A. Frederick, spared little attention to detail. White marble mined in Cockeysville covers the building’s symmetrical facade. The mansard roof, customary of Second French Empire buildings, is capped by slate shipped from Pennsylvania. Baroque filigrees adorn interior offices and ceremonial spaces.

The rotunda, which originally stretched three stories before the building was divided into six floors, occupies the heart of the space. Pilasters ascend above a marble floor to a cast iron dome, capping the structure at 227 feet — once one of the city’s tallest. A stained-glass window, featuring Baltimore’s seal and several female figures representing concepts such as manufacturing, crowns the interior portion of the dome around 119 feet.

In a chamber above the rotunda, a circular bench faces panoramic windows, suggesting designers intended the space for public observation, although it is closed to the public for safety reasons, said Jackson Gilman-Forlini, historic preservation officer for the city’s Department of General Services. A tightly wound spiral staircase leads another 70 feet up to a balcony on the dome’s crest, which offers a 360-degree view of Baltimore.

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It’s a space few have seen, but those who make the climb abide by the tradition of signing their name to the dome’s interior. That includes the tag of one of the city’s most ubiquitous graffiti artists, RLong. City officials believe the signer may have scaled the building’s scaffolding during recent masonry work.

Renovations have robbed the building of much of its historic charm — a trip to City Hall today is a festival of 1970s-era modifications such as floor-level windows, atriums and vertigo-inducing carpeted staircases that smell strongly of a dentist’s office — but the roof and dome have largely been spared that treatment.

Fashioned by the same firm that built the U.S. Capitol dome, Baltimore City Hall’s dome was modern for its time, Gilman-Forlini said.

The dome is supported by trusses, which were developed in Baltimore for use on railroad bridges. The dome’s designer, Wendel Bollman, was an engineer for the B&O Railroad.

“They’re borrowing new technology to create an old architectural form,” Gilman-Forlini said.

The cast iron dome, while durable, is prone to corrosion. Some portions with the heaviest corrosion will be replaced, while others will be stripped and resealed.

Massive double-hung windows, likely the only original windows left in the building, will also be restored, Gilman-Forlini said. A bell, still operational, will be left in place, but four inoperable clocks, right only twice a day, will not be repaired as part of the work.

“This is a project we’re being proactive about,” Gilman-Forlini said. “We’re not just waiting until it continues to deteriorate and deteriorate and then it’s an emergency. By halting the deterioration now where it is, we’re able to save the city a lot of money down the road.”

Work on the roof and gutter system, also part of the project, is a bit more urgent. Roughly 40% of the roof’s slate tiles require replacement. So will City Hall’s copper gutters, which are built into the structure rather than hung on the exterior. Because they can — and do — leak into the building’s usable spaces, the work is more complicated and critical, DGS Director Berke Attila said.

To make sure this round of renovations can meet the demands of the next 50 years, the gutters will be bigger to handle higher rain volumes.

Attila pointed to damage the building sustained in the Curran Room, a spacious ceremonial space that’s part of City Council’s suite in the building’s southern wing. There, plaster has crumbled from the walls and ceiling, even falling on councilmembers as they worked, Attila said. Plaster repairs are set to begin soon.

“These properties of high value, we have to be good custodians of them,” Attila said.

Baltimore rejected an initial bid for the contract that was nearly $2 million higher and instead worked through a state program to select a contractor who agreed to a pre-negotiated price catalog. Janus Contractors Inc. of Greenbelt will perform the work, which will be paid for with a combination of bonds and money from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation. It’s expected to take two years.

Although the work is expensive, Gilman-Forlini argued historical preservation is a better investment in the local economy than new construction, in which the bulk of the cost goes into materials rather than labor.

“There’s utility to this work. It’s not just maintaining an artifact or an art piece,” he said. “This is a functional office. We’re deriving value out of these improvements every day that people come here for work and every day the public comes to use the building.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Curran Room.