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In the Spirit of the
Original
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It takes
patience, passion and deep pockets to restore architectural details
in historic structures.
By C.B. Adams
There’s a rule of thumb in the construction industry that it is
cheaper to build new than to renovate. Renovations of historic buildings
do however have some economic benefit thanks to Missouri historic
rehabilitation tax credits. These credits offset income tax liability
for certain costs related to historic rehabilitation. And, sometimes
restoring an existing structure is the more appropriate choice both
aesthetically and historically.
Take, for instance, the Queen’s Daughters building at Saint Louis
University. The turn-of-the-century Romanesque mansion, located
on Lindell Blvd. next to the School of Law, had seen better days.
After decades of neglect and ultimately abandonment, the building
was in ruins. Parts of the clay tile roof had collapsed. So had
portions of the floor on all three levels. And leaky windows had
allowed water to infiltrate the walls and ceilings, ruining the
plaster interior finish and ornate woodwork.
Instead of tearing down the ailing structure, the university made
the decision to restore the mansion to provide the School of Law
with spacious and elegant accommodations for formal receptions as
well as senior commons rooms, faculty-alumni lounge, career services,
alumni and development offices and a legal clinic.
Above:
Inside the Queen’s Daughters building is the restored original
mahogany wood entry foyer.
“Over the years the mansion had fallen into a certain amount of
disrepair, but the university was committed to restoring the architectural
details of the building. Father Biondi and his staff saw something
in this building. What we did was try to restore the building to
its original state as best we could, while adding modern conveniences
such as air conditioning and an elevator that fit the building and
was in the spirit of the original,” says Thomas Bergmann, project
architect and vice president of Cannon Design.
During the 18-month-long restoration by BSI Constructors Inc., virtually
every inch of the interior was renovated, including a ceiling mural
in the dining room. One of the key features of the project was the
rebuilding of the grand center staircase that rises through all
three floors. Sometime during the building’s history, someone had
removed all the spindles that supported the baluster and replaced
them with bead board.
Above: Also
benefitting from restoration in the Queen’s Daughters building is
the traditional mahogany wainscoting.
“Since we had no records at all of what was there originally, it
was somewhat of a forensic exercise to try and find a spindle that
was contemporary to the time of the building. Our job as architects
was to work within the styles and the rules of that particular time.
We did a lot of research into the period when the house was built,”
Bergmann says. “It was very much a back and forth process. We had
good craftsmen to bounce ideas back and forth about what could be
done, what was available and how we could make the spindles.
Another conspicuous restoration in the city was the preservation
of the Compton Hill Water Tower in Reservoir Park on South Grand
Boulevard. The tower, built in 1898, is one of seven such water
towers left in the United States. St. Louis is home to three. The
Compton Hill tower project was part of a $19 million renovation
of the still-in-use reservoir.
Above:
HOK’s Lighting Design Group illuminated the Compton Hill Water
Tower to enhance its visibility from vantage points throughout St.
Louis. Constructed in 1898 to keep water pressure strong for the
south section of the city, the brick and stone structure is a designated
city landmark.
The tower, which once encased two standpipes, was a challenge to
restore, according to the project’s general contractor, Rick Grebel,
president of KCI Construction. “It had a spiral cast iron stair
all the way to the top and a viewing platform at the roof. The cast
iron had rotted away and a lot of the steps were deteriorated. The
roof structure itself, which was very ornate, was about to collapse.
It was all very old cast iron structural members and angles,” he
says.
Making use of new-age materials such as plastics, epoxies and gunnite
concrete, craftsmen were able to rebuild the entire structural system
without taking off the roof.
“Most of the time, with the architectural features, you can’t replace
them out of the original material. What we normally do is take a
mold of that piece and then cast a new piece out of a different
type of material,” Grebel says.
A case in point were the large limestone blocks that surrounded
the base of the tower. They had deteriorated and needed to be replaced.
KCI had one repaired on site, then made a plaster mold of it. Then
the mold was taken to Bob Cassilly, local artist and City Museum
owner, who made simulated stones from concrete. These were then
glued over the original limestone, essentially giving the base a
facelift that was true to the original.
“On these types of projects, you definitely have to be creative,
and it takes a lot of time. You have to have somebody with passion
for that type of work, too,” Grebel says.
C. B. Adams is a St. Louis-based writer, communications consultant
and adjunct faculty member at University of Missouri–St. Louis.
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