Fort Wool Restoration Study

Hampton, Virginia (circa 1817)

McPherson Design Group provided a report to the City of Hampton, which included our findings from a structural inspection of the historical structures located at Fort Wool, including remaining casemates, underground spaces, watch tower, pedestrian bridge, and the fort protection walls.  Another project at Fort Wool included a structural study on the existing Observation Tower located on Fort Wool, the sister fort to Fort Monroe. The City of Hampton would like to open the Observation Tower to the public, but has concerns over its structural adequacy. The existing tower is constructed of a steel frame with a concrete box on top, which serves as the observation platform. We made a site visit to perform an initial inspection on the Tower and determined the Tower is salvageable with some repairs and modifications. We recently completed the design for modifications that are required to bring the Tower up to current code and as soon as the City has obtained proper funding, the Tower will be renovated.