Problems with part of the roof of the county-owned building known as the “old Verhine building,” at 1015 Adams St. has forced county officials to block off the alleyway between it and an office building until it it fixed.

County officials installed a barricade of orange cones and yellow caution tape around the area, Board of Supervisors Richard George said, because a cornice, or piece of molding along the roof toward the rear of the house, was blown loose by high winds and is dangling from the roof.

“Right now, that’s the best we can do until we can find a way to fix it,” he said, adding the county’s building maintenance supervisor is working on a solution.

The house was home to Verhine & Verhine law firm from 1991 to 2002, according to city directories. The county paid $46,000 for the old house, officials have said.

It and the neighboring old Justice Court Building south of it at 1019 Adams St., have been for sale by the county since December 2014.

County officials earlier in 2014 proposed to raze the buildings to create more parking for the Warren County Courthouse, but the plan was denied by the city’s Architectural Review Board because the buildings are in the city’s historic district.