The Washington Monument covered in scaffolding, in January 1999. (Photo by Leon Reed)

The Washington Monument will remain closed through 2013, and quite possibly into the beginning of 2014, as the National Park Service prepares to begin a lengthy renovation process to repair damage the structure sustained in last August’s earthquake.

The 5.8-magnitude tremor last year caused extensive cracks and stresses to the 555-foot-high monument, most of which occurred near its peak, according to NPS spokeswoman Carol B. Johnson.

As a result, when repairs get underway later this year, the entire building will be scaffolded, creating a look similar to the late 1990s, when it received a major cosmetic overhaul. But this project is about far more than looks.

“We’re not going to be replacing stone, we’re going to be repairing stone,” Johnson said.
Many of the monument’s blocks sit on hunches or lips that were fractured in the earthquake. Without replacing any of the stonework, repair crews will use epoxies and a system of anchors to patch up and secure the breaks, many of which are located above the monument’s observation deck. Johnson described the location as between 475 feet and 550 feet above the National Mall.

While there is damage lower down in the tower, Johnson said those spots will be easier to fix up using mortar patches and dutchman repairs, or procedures in which damaged chunks of stone are carved out and replaced with epoxy and gel.

“The building is structurally sound, it’s not going anywhere,” Johnson said. Still, the repair schedule will be lengthy and extensive. The Park Service will open the bidding process “imminently,” Johnson said, with proposals due July 31 and a targeted starting date in early September. After that, it will take between 12 and 18 months to complete the necessary work both inside and outside the monument.

The entire construction process is expected to cost about $15 million. In January, the philanthropist David Rubenstein announced he would foot half the bill.

But however long it takes, the repair of the Washington Monument will be an unmissable feature on the National Mall, and the fourth concurrent construction project. The rebuilding of the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial is nearly complete, but the Mall is still dotted by the construction of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African-American History, set to open in 2015, and a massive re-sodding effort that will cost $700 million over several years.