Works to replace the floorboards at Horsham Town Hall's Heritage Hall will start Monday.
The timber boards in the 1939-built hall are fast approaching the end of their useful life and Horsham Rural city Council successfully applied for a $200,000 grant from Heritage Victoria to replace the room's entire surface with like-for-like boards.
Horsham contractor Locks Construction will complete the works across the next six months.
There will be increased construction traffic in Wilson Street and the laneway will be closed for pedestrians during the works.
Mr O'Brien said the site had architectural and heritage importance and the project would meet full heritage requirements.
The conservation work will also include sub-floor structure repairs.
"This will ensure that further decline of the floor's condition is avoided and that continued community use of the space is protected into the future," Director Communities and Place Kevin O'Brien said.
"The new floor will facilitate the return of large community functions and activities hosted at the auditorium and preserve the structural integrity of this state heritage listed building," he said.
The old boards will be stored in an area off-site until an appropriate project can be identified to repurpose them.
The hall is architecturally significant as an outstanding example of a provincial municipal building of the inter-war period, and as a notable and intact example of the Art Deco style of the late 1930s.
Its grand public interiors, including the auditorium, foyers, staircases and supper room, as well as the former council meeting room, are outstanding examples of the style, notable for their moulded plasterwork, terrazzo floors and stairs, the use of anodised metal and polished timber and for the original light fittings.
