Local contractors Stephen Stellpflue and Jason Eames are nearing the end of a four-month-long project to clean and restore the elegant limestone exterior of the former Jackson County Courthouse in Medford.

It’s been a labor of love.

“This is a beautiful building,” Eames said Friday outside the art deco-style structure, now home to county administration offices. “I don’t know anything else like it in the county.”

The building’s exterior was built with 4-inch-thick limestone blocks and adorned with ornate artwork, including eagles, flowers and other designs carved from limestone.

“It’s gorgeous,” Stellpflue said. “It’s timeless.”

The building, located at West Main Street and South Oakdale Avenue, was dedicated in 1932, six years after Medford became the county seat, but in recent years the mortar between the limestone blocks has needed repair, leading to the restoration project.

The repair job, known as tuckpointing, included power-washing the building exterior. The work was done on the building’s east and north sides, including the side with the main entrance. Two years ago, the other two sides were repaired.

This year’s job ran to $129,000, a couple thousand dollars more than the prior job, according to Stellpflue, who does business as Superior Masonry & Construction and is the general contractor on the job. Eames, who does business as Marble Mountain Masonry, is a subcontractor on the project.

The men were on the job Friday, finishing up work at ground level, with plans to wrap things up in about a week.

“It’s really unfortunate they don’t do buildings like this anymore,” said Eames, who has a passion for historic preservation. “This building has a little bit of spirit and heart and soul.”

Eames predicted a long life for the structure, if it’s cared for.

“This building should be here in another hundred years,” he said. “Another thousand years.”

Architect John G. Link, whose name appears on a building cornerstone, apparently knew what he was doing.

The two contractors told a touching story of how they were on the job one day when a woman showed up and said she was the granddaughter of Link, the architect. She told Eames that her grandfather also was architect of the Silver Bow County Courthouse in Montana, a structure that was built in 1910-12 and also used limestone. She said he designed some churches, too.

“She actually got a little teary-eyed,” Eames said.

The repair job might have been a labor of love, but it was labor made more difficult because prior repairs were substandard, according to Stellpflue. Much of the work entailed fixing old repairs that were made with an inferior product applied poorly, he said.

“We could have done twice the work in half the time,” if prior repairs had been done properly, he said.

In contrast, Stellpflue and Eames used what they called lime putty, which is softer than the surrounding limestone, hardens over time and is waterproof. Eames said it absorbs carbon dioxide and self-heals.

Ryan DeSautel, a manager with the county facilities maintenance department, declined to comment for this story. Stellpflue said the department has been pretty easy to work with and that the county wants the job done right.

“They dearly care about this building,” he said.