CHICOPEE - The city has selected an architecture firm from Springfield to do a comprehensive assessment of the structural integrity of the auditorium of City Hall and develop a design to preserve the room so it can be used again.

Dietz and Company Architects, Inc. was selected from five firms which submitted qualification statements showing interest in the project.

A six-person committee including the assistant building commissioner, city maintenance director and the Department of Public Works superintendent, reviewed the five applications submitted, narrowed it down to three to interview and made the final selection, Mayor Richard J. Kos said in a written statement.

The company was selected, in part because employees have significant experience with the rehabilitation and restoration of historic structures. In the past they have worked at Springfield Technical Community College, Smith College and Westfield City Hall, he said.

One of the plusses is one of the employees, Julie L. Sloan, has extensive experience restoring stained glass windows, said Mary Moge, chief of staff for Kos, who also sat on the selection committee.

Kos is hoping to be able to restore the auditorium, install television cameras and use it as a public space that could be used for a wide variety of meetings and events. It is currently closed to the public and treated as a storage space.

City Hall dates to 1871 and the auditorium is the most ornate part of the structure. It is decorated with 19 stained glass windows, including the rose window that is over the main door of the building.

The 15 feet, 6 inch rose window is in poor condition. One of the heavy sandstone pieces that serve as the window frame has fallen out and another is cracked. One panel of the stained glass is badly damaged.

City officials have blocked off most of the stairs leading to the main door of City Hall to protect people from the possibility that other pieces of the window could fall.

One of the jobs of the architects is to find out why the window is failing. A second window on the side is also loose.

"The City Hall auditorium has potential to be the focal point for meetings and public events in our city, but it needs attention. This begins that effort," Kos said.

One of the missions of the company will be to give the city an estimate of the cost of the work to restore the historic building.