The old U.S. Post Office building on Main Street in New Iberia has a new do, so to speak.

Contractors hoisted the building’s new cupola Thursday, mounting the cap to the 6×6 supports on the building’s roof.

“We took the old cupola down in June of last year,” said Chet Schwing, one of the owners of the building. “We had done repairs to it over time, but when we looked at it, they said we just needed to replace it.”

The building was originally built over a four-year period, with three carpenters doing the work.

“You should have seen the original cupola,” Schwing said. “It was amazing to imagine three men spending four years to build this.”

The new cupola is actually a fiberglass sheath over a wooden armature. Schwing said the fiberglass arrived on five separate pallets, then was assembled and attached to the wooden framing before being installed.

“It’s like a puzzle,” he said.

The original cupola was part of the building’s initial construction, which was completed in 1902. Although the new cupola is not an exact reproduction, it is pretty close, Schwing said.

“We thought about using the original to have a mold cut,” he said. “But that by itself, just the casting, would have cost $65,000. They have all sorts of shapes already made, so we chose that one. It cost, shipped and installed, closer to $15,000.”

The physical installation and bolting down the cupola is only the first step. Now the fiberglass, and the fiberglass sheaths that cover the 6-by-6 posts that support it, will be painted to match the rest of the building’s superstructure.

“And we have to install the lightning rod on top,” Schwing said. “That’s the thing about old buildings. There is always more work to be done.”