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The gold tip on the Tech Tower was removed for refurbishing in July.
The gold pinnacle that has crowned the Tech Tower for the past 20 years is getting new gold-leaf plating. But it's no small job.
Weather and time had taken its toll on the pinnacle's golden luster and Warren Page, director of operations and maintenance, took notice. The availability of a 150-foot crane released from cleanup operations following Hurricane Katrina provided the means to do the task.
On July 21 the crane was at the tower at 7 a.m. and a small crew undertook the project. Four hours later the job was done and the pinnacle was sent to Maryland for new gold leaf.
"It came off very easily," Page said. "We thought there would be a frame underneath and that the frame would be down inside the roof and we'd have to disconnect it. Actually, the roof was built up and the pinnacle set right on top of it. It made it much easier than what we anticipated. We thought it might be an all-day job."
The restored pinnacle could be reinstalled before classes start Aug. 20, Page said. It is a recent addition. In 1987, alumnus Eugene Clary made a donation to Georgia Tech to give the tower a new copper roof topped by a gold-plated pinnacle.
The late Clary, GS 32, originally proposed gold plating the Tech Tower's steeple roof, similar to the gold plating on Georgia's Capitol dome, but Institute administrators and architects believed a copper roof was more appropriate to the building design.