Loudon County's mayor expects to have renderings in hand next week showing how the old courthouse will be restored and hopes all work can be done by the year 2021.
The early 1870s courthouse in Loudon suffered heavy fire damage in April. Flames destroyed the roof; water to fight the fire swamped the building itself.
The costs to restore the brick building are still being determined. Loudon County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw said Tuesday that Johnson & Galyon has been tapped for construction and Brewer Ingram Fuller architects will handle architectural work.
Bradshaw said he may be ready to present the next steps toward rebuilding the courthouse at the county commission's meeting in November.
Much of county's judicial business went on at the building. It was among the oldest still active courthouses in Tennessee.
At nearly 150 years in age, it's older than the old courthouse in downtown Knoxville and older than buildings on the Knoxville College campus, which was founded in 1875.
It also needs a lot of work.
"Black mold is just rampant" inside, Bradshaw.
It'll take anywhere from a month to several months to dry it out so reconstruction can proceed, he said.
The mayor said he hopes it'll be ready for occupancy in 2021.
"I hope that that's a realistic goal," he said.
Just what will be in it still must be decided, he said. The county is contemplating an annex, which would affect what goes in the old courthouse.
The property is fenced off now to ward against vandals and trespassers.
Local residents, however, have used the fence as a way to show their affection for the building.
Suzanne Cunningham said she crocheted a heart that she placed on the fence. It was quickly stolen, she said. Others joined in her effort in August but their 15 or so decorative hearts also soon disappeared from the fence.
Today, there's a colorful heart on the fence that's a little harder to steal -- in the form of zip ties.
"So far so good with the zip ties," she said.