In the News: Penn Station

An article by Michael Beschloss in the New York Times, entitled A Place That Made Travelers Feel Important, recalls the 1963 demolition of Pennsylvania Station and hints at the possibility of a new Penn Station. The loss of Penn Station was a watershed event in the historic preservation movement, influencing the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 and contributing to the preservation of countless other structures.

The article describes the financial situation that drove the decision to demolish the station: the Pennsylvania Railroad was losing money in the 1950s, and fearing a continued decline of passenger rail travel, the railroad’s executives decided to lease the site to the Madison Square Garden Corporation, which replaced the station’s grand public spaces with a new arena atop the existing platforms.

Mr. Beschloss includes architectural historian Vincent Scully’s oft-quoted observation comparing the old Penn Station with its current incarnation: “One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat.”

A sign that a new and more worthy Penn Station could be in the making is the fact that in 2013 the New York City Council voted to extend Madison Square Garden’s zoning permit for only 10 years. With the current station barely able to meet current demand, perhaps economic forces will once again shape a Penn Station that makes travelers feel, if not godly, then at least important.

 

For more about Penn Station’s past and future:

A new play retells the demolition of Penn Station against a backdrop of historic images: www.theeternalspaceplay.com

The Municipal Art Society of New York challenges leading design firms to envision a new Penn Station: www.mas.org/urbanplanning/new-penn-station-2/

“Capitol” Projects

Capitols are among our favorite types of buildings to work on, and since our first investigation of the Massachusetts State House twenty years ago, we’ve had the pleasure of visiting ten of them – eight state capitols in addition to the U.S. Capitol and Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador Confederation Building. Earlier this month, Vertical Access returned to the Michigan State Capitol, where we first worked in 2005 with Quinn Evans Architects and The Christman Company.

MI

Kent inspects the drum of the Michigan State Capitol in 2005.

The last major restoration of Michigan’s capitol was completed in 1992, and the purpose of our 2005 visit was to see how the paint coatings and materials were holding up at the drum, dome and lantern. Nine years later, with over twenty years elapsed since the 1992 restoration, we once again made the trip to Lansing, Michigan to inspect the dome. This time, there were also reports of water infiltration. Returning with the same project team, technicians Evan Kopelson and Keith Luscinski surveyed the dome, drum and lantern using TPAS™ (Tablet PC Annotation System) to document existing conditions for an upcoming repair project.

Do all of the state capitols have domes?

All but twelve of the fifty state capitols have an exterior dome (original plans for both the Ohio and New York State Capitols included domes that were never built). Many early state capitol buildings in the United States were topped with domes inspired by examples from Europe and ancient Rome. The U.S. Capitol dome, completed in 1866, set the standard for the state capitol domes that would follow. Most of the current state capitols were built after 1866, and the national capitol’s massive cast-iron dome had a strong influence on many of them.

Access challenges

It can be difficult to gain hands-on access to all of those domes and cupolas. Fixed ladders, access hatches, and windows usually provide a way to reach the exterior of a dome lantern or cupola, where we can set up anchors for rope access drops. But some buildings have no access systems in place, like the Wyoming State Capitol, where we hauled a heavy 40-foot ladder into the dome in order to climb to the top. Even with these challenges, using industrial rope access for domes, cupolas, and towers is fast, efficient, and economical compared to other means of access.

NJ before and after

The New Jersey State House before restoration (left, during VA’s 1996 investigation) and after restoration (right, during our 2013 visit).

Capital projects for capitol buildings

Monumental public buildings often have monumental price tags for restoration, with deferred maintenance being a major cost driver. Some of the challenges for building professionals working on state capitols include ever-changing occupant needs, increased standards for safety and security, accessibility, energy efficiency, and technology upgrades. Facilities maintenance was put on the back burner during the Great Recession, but many states are now moving ahead with repair and restoration projects. State capitols in the news for recent, ongoing, or planned repair and restoration campaigns include Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, OregonSouth Dakota, and the U.S. Capitol.

Conditions

A few of the conditions we’ve documented on capitol buildings.

Vertical Access’ “capitol” projects at a glance

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Inspecting the U.S. Capitol dome. Photo by Jon Reis Photography.

United States Capitol

Dates and Architects: 1793 (William Thornton, Stephen Hallet), 1795-98 (George Hadfield), 1798-1802 (James Hoban), 1803-1818 (Benjamin Henry Latrobe), 1818-1826 (Charles Bulfinch), 1850-68 (Thomas U. Walter, Montgomery C. Meigs)

Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark

Materials: Cast iron

Scope of work: VA conducted a hands-on inspection of all of the cast iron dome’s exterior from the base of the Statue of Freedom to the peristyle column capitals.

Project team: Office of the Architect of the Capitol

MI3

The Michigan State Capitol in 2005.

Michigan State Capitol

Date and Architect: 1872-1878 (Elijah Myers)

Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark

Materials: Cast iron drum and sheet metal-clad dome, lantern and finial

Scope of work: VA inspected materials and paint finishes at the drum, dome, lantern and finial.

Project team: Quinn Evans Architects, The Christman Company

 

 

 

Inspecting the New Jersey State House in 1996.

New Jersey State House

Dates and Architects: 1792 (Jonathon Doane), 1845 (John Notman), 1871 (Samuel Sloane), 1889 (dome, Lewis Broome)

Landmark Status: Contributing resource in a National Register Historic District

Materials: Cast iron drum and lantern and gilded copper dome.

Scope of work: VA coordinated site investigations and safe access for a comprehensive restoration completed in 1999. Our 2013 investigation included ultrasonic testing, paint adhesion testing, and fiber-optic investigation with live-feed video.

Project team: (2013) Preservation Design Partnership, H2L2 Architects, Building Conservation AssociatesStephen McLaughlin Roofing Consulting (1996) Jan Hird Pokorny Architects & Planners, Robert Silman Associates, Vulcan Supply, Gold Leaf Studios, Preservation Architecture, Mazia/Tech-Com, Matthew J. Mosca, McKernan Satterlee Associates, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities

 

NY1

Documenting the roof trusses of the New York State Capitol.

New York State Capitol

Dates and Architects: 1867-1875 (Thomas Fuller), 1875-1883 (Leopold Eidlitz, Henry Hobson Richardson), 1883-1899 (Isaac G. Perry)

Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark

Materials: Iron roof trusses, iron and glass skylights

Scope of work: VA surveyed the trusses supporting the massive roofs, performed water testing and fiber-optic investigation, and provided client access to skylights.

Project team: (2003-2004) Robert Silman Associates, (2006) Simpson Gumpertz & Heger

 

 

MA

Inspecting the gilded copper dome of the Massachusetts State House.

Massachusetts State House

Dates and Architects: 1795-1798 (Charles Bulfinch and Charles Brigham), 1917 (Sturgis, Chapman & Andrews)

Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark

Materials: Sheet copper

Scope of work: VA surveyed the dome, which was gilded in 1874 and had been painted many times since then. The dome was restored and re-gilded following VA’s investigation.

Project team: Goody, Clancy & Associates; Gold Leaf Studios

 

 

WY2

Keith inspects the Wyoming State Capitol.

Wyoming State Capitol

Dates and Architects: 1886-1917 (David W. Gibbs, William DuBois)

Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark

Materials: Cast iron, galvanized sheet metal, sheet lead, and gilded copper

Scope of work: VA conducted a 100% hands-on survey of the drum, dome, and lantern exterior, characterized the materials used at various locations, assessed the condition of paint coatings (including adhesion testing and removal of samples), and identified prior painting campaigns.

Project team: HDR Architecture, Preservation Design Partnership, Robert Silman Associates, GB Geotechnics USA

 

WV courtesy SHCA

Investigating the gilded dome of the West Virginia State Capitol. Photo by Swanke Hayden Connell Architects.

West Virginia State Capitol

Date and Architect: 1932 (Cass Gilbert)

Landmark Status: Contributing resource in a National Register Historic District

Materials: Gilded sheet copper and lead

Scope of work: VA performed an exterior condition survey of the dome and cupola.

Project team: Swanke Hayden Connell Architects

 

VA1

The interior rotunda dome of the Virginia State Capitol.

Virginia State Capitol

Date and Architects: 1785 (Thomas Jefferson, Charles-Louis Clerisseau)

Landmark Status: National Historic Landmark

Materials: Plaster, wood

Scope of work: VA provided access consulting for interior lighting of the capitol’s rotunda.

Project team: Hillier Architecture

 

KY

Checking out the pediment sculpture at the Kentucky State Capitol.

 

 

 

 

Kentucky State Capitol

Date and Architect: 1905-1909 (Frank Mills Andrews)

Landmark Status: National Register of Historic Places

Materials: Limestone and granite

Scope of work: VA provided access and assisted in performing an exterior condition survey.

Project team: Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.

Confederation

Kelly inspects the Newfoundland and Labrador Confederation Building.

Newfoundland and Labrador Confederation Building 

Date and Architects: 1960 (Lawson, Betts, and Cash, with A.J.C. Paine)

Materials: Limestone and brick

Scope of work: VA conducted a hands-on survey of the limestone masonry, hammer-sounding each unit, and used non-destructive evaluation to identify blind delamination within limestone units.

Project team: Jokinen Engineering Services

 

 

 

 

 

This video from the Architect of the Capitol about the U.S. Capitol dome restoration includes photographs from VA’s condition survey.

 

All photographs by Vertical Access except where noted otherwise 

When the World Went to Queens: Part 1

By Kristen Olson

 

The Near Tomorrow

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The Unisphere in 2011. Photo by Vertical Access.

We are now living in the future envisioned at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, which opened 50 years ago last week and attracted over 50 million visitors to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. With the theme “peace through understanding,” the fair promised a utopian, technologically-driven “near tomorrow.” For many fairgoers, especially those who were children when they attended, the playful, exuberant architecture had as much of an impact on their expectations for the future as did exhibits promising undersea colonies and driverless cars.

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World’s Fair souvenir tin tray. Photo by Kristen Olson.

Despite plenty of criticism, the visiting public’s response to the fair was overwhelmingly positive. With the fair’s 50th anniversary, people across the country and across the globe have been sharing their World’s Fair memories. We’ve gathered here some memories of the fair from the Vertical Access family:

Evan’s father, Eric, was at the fair before it even opened. In 1963, he had a summer job with a surveying company inspecting construction work on many of the pavilions. One that Eric remembers was the Bell Telephone pavilion, which was designed to look like a giant telephone handset on two cradles.  He says that the contractors were working very quickly to meet their deadlines; at that time, the fair’s opening day was less than a year away.

Julie remembers being hungry and hot while attending the fair with her family at age 10, but also remembers the anticipation of waiting in line to see General Motors’ Futurama II exhibit and being amazed by the huge stainless steel Unisphere.

Franny’s most vivid memory is of standing on a “people mover” and slowly gliding past Michelangelo’s Pietà.

Our bookkeeper, Chris, went to the fair and, several years later, saw Led Zeppelin perform at the New York State Pavilion.

 

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The Panorama of the City of New York as it appeared in 2007. This 1:1200 scale model of New York City was one of the most popular attractions at the fair. It is currently maintained in the collection of the Queens Museum. Photo by Kristen Olson.

 

For more World’s Fair memories, check out recent articles in Architectural Record, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Daily News.

Read Part 2 where we take a closer look at the New York State Pavilion, one of the fair’s most memorable architectural creations, and one of the few structures from the 1964-65 fair still standing in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

When the World Went to Queens: Part 2

By Kristen Olson

 

Showcasing New York State

The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair was timed to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the founding of New York City (or more accurately, the city’s capture and renaming by the British). In representing the fair’s host state, the New York State Pavilion would stand out as one of the most memorable pavilions, earning praise from architectural critics who dismissed much of the fair’s architecture.

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The Tent of Tomorrow as it appeared in 2011. All photos by Vertical Access.

Designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster with structural engineer Lev Zetlin, the New York State Pavilion consisted of three components. The Tent of Tomorrow was an overt reference to a circus tent in the form of an elliptical, cable-suspended roof of colored plastic panels supported by concrete columns. Its roof was the largest of its kind in the world, and its floor was a huge terrazzo road map of New York State – purported to be the world’s largest map as well as the world’s largest terrazzo installation. Theaterama was a circular concrete theater designed to show films in 360-degrees. Completing the complex was a group of three connected Astro-View observation platforms, the tallest structure at the fair at over 200 feet.

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The Astro-View Towers and Tent of Tomorrow.

After the Fair

The New York State Pavilion was one of the few structures to remain as part of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park after the fair closed. Theaterama continued to operate after being converted to a live event space, and it was renamed the Queens Theatre in the Park following a 1993 rehabilitation guided by Philip Johnson. The Tent of Tomorrow was used as a roller skating rink and concert venue until the roof panels were removed in the 1970s. The Astro-View Towers were retained, but were not made accessible to the public after the fair.

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The underside of the lowest of the three platforms, which housed a snack bar during the fair.

Now, after being abandoned for decades, the Tent and the Towers are in need of repair. A coalition of dedicated preservationists has built broad public support for the pavilion’s rehabilitation, with inclusion on the World Monuments Fund’s annual Watch List of the World’s 100 Most Endangered Sites in 2008, and listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. The pavilion is also on the U.S. Register of the International Committee for the Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighborhoods of the Modern Movement (DOCOMOMO). Grassroots organizations promoting the preservation and reuse of the Pavilion include People for the Pavilion, nywf64.com and the New York State Pavilion Paint Project.

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The three observation towers as seen from below.

Increased attention from the fair’s 50th anniversary has bolstered preservationists’ efforts. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the pavilion a National Treasure  on the 50th anniversary of the fair’s opening. This program brings attention to culturally-important landmarks that are threatened with deterioration and demolition, helping to catalyze public support and funding for their rehabilitation. On the same day, the Tent of Tomorrow was opened to the public for a few hours – for the first time in almost thirty years – with thousands lining up for a chance to don a hard hat and spend a few minutes inside the pavilion. Most significantly, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz supports rehabilitating the structures, and recently formed a task force to develop rehabilitation and reuse plans with guidance from the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

World’s Fair Events

The Queens Theatre is currently hosting exhibits and events celebrating the fair’s 50th anniversary, including a depiction of fair buildings titled The World’s Fair in Legos. For more anniversary events, check out nycgo.com. See striking before and after photos of the pavilion at the AIA’s Architect magazine blog.

Vertical Access works on the Astro-View towers in 2011. The tallest platform, at over 200 feet, provided panoramic views from two decks.

Vertical Access first performed work at the New York State Pavilion in 2006, and our team has returned several times to assist with existing condition surveys and lighting replacement, in collaboration with The Sparks Electric Company, RTKL Associates, Acuren, and Robert Silman Associates. The Pavilion is owned by the City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation. For more information, see our project profiles for the Tent of Tomorrow and the Observation Towers.

Exploring Beth Hamedrash Hagodol

Getting to see exclusive spaces is one of the perks of our work at Vertical Access. Last summer we were asked to join Robert Silman Associates and the New York Landmarks Conservancy to work inside a rarely-seen Lower East Side Landmark: Beth Hamedrash Hagodol, a historic synagogue and home to this country’s oldest Russian Jewish Orthodox congregation. Closed since 2007, the building has weathered storms, fire and global recession, and with a dedicated coalition of groups working for its preservation, we hope that many more people will soon be able to visit its remarkable interior.

From Baptist church to synagogue

The synagogue began its life as the Norfolk Street Baptist church in 1850, designed by an unknown architect in the prevailing Gothic Revival style. The expanding and upwardly-mobile Beth Hamedrash Hagodol congregation, founded in 1852, purchased the building in 1885 and modified it to meet the needs of Orthodox worship.

37. General view of the central nave from the east facade oculus

The congregation was unique in welcoming members from all countries at a time when New York’s Jewish synagogues typically served congregations hailing from the same town or region in Eastern Europe – a reflection of the localized settlement patterns of the city’s immigrant neighborhoods.

Historic designation

Beth Hamedrash Hagodol was designated a New York City Landmark in 1967, and noted in the designation report “especially for the services it has rendered to the many orthodox Jews from eastern European countries who migrated to the United States during the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries.”

By the time it was added to the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places in 1999, however, the synagogue had long been subject to a combination of forces that are all-too-common among houses of worship throughout this country, including an aging, dwindling congregation and decades of deferred maintenance.

Time and disaster take their toll

The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have not been kind to the 160-year-old building. A 1997 storm blew out the two-story arched window on the street façade, leaving the building open to the elements for weeks until the New York Landmarks Conservancy stepped in with a grant for temporary repairs. Then, a fire in 2001 severely damaged the roof and plaster ceiling. With only 15 or 20 active worshippers in its congregation, the synagogue was closed in 2007.

In 2012 Beth Hamedrash Hagodol’s rabbi applied for a demolition permit under the economic hardship exception, which – very rarely and in extreme cases – grants financially-strapped owners permission to demolish landmarked buildings. Following outcry from neighbors and historians, the application was withdrawn in spring of last year.

See more photos of our investigation on Bowery Boogie

Saving a cultural landmark

In a demonstration of the cultural value of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol, groups including the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and the Friends of the Lower East Side have been working to raise awareness about the building and to raise funds for its stabilization.  Last summer, the New York Landmarks Conservancy sponsored an engineering study, a first step in planning a sustainable future for the synagogue.

As part of the study, our team inspected and evaluated the synagogue’s roof structure. By using Industrial Rope Access to reach the space between the ceiling and roof, we were able to document the structural system and its condition.

We are happy to report that the engineering study showed the basic structure of the building to be sound, though there is extensive water damage and most of the interior plaster will likely need replacement. Beth Hamedrash Hagodol is an irreplaceable record of New York’s Jewish immigrant history – a landmark of the Lower East Side which we hope will be preserved and revitalized. We’ll keep you updated as the story unfolds.

For more, check out ongoing coverage of the synagogue on Curbed, Bowery Boogie, and the Wall Street Journal, or read the National Register nomination .

Hanging Flume Project Receives 2014 Stephen H. Hart Award for Historic Preservation

Kent Diebolt was in Denver on the evening of February 5th to help celebrate the Stephen H. Hart Awards for Historic Preservation, honoring the Western Colorado Interperative Association, Anthony & Associates and the Bureau of Land Management for their work and leadership on the Hanging Flume project. Vertical Access has been involved since 2004.

[vimeo 86667650 w=500 h=281]

2014 Stephen H. Hart Award – The Hanging Flume from History Colorado on Vimeo.

Who is Buried in Grant’s Tomb? *

Grant’s Tomb is off the beaten track tread by most visitors to Manhattan. Photo credit: www.timeshutter.com

Grant’s Tomb is off the beaten track tread by most visitors to Manhattan.
Photo source: www.timeshutter.com

Once one of the most popular attractions in New York City, today Grant’s Tomb is off the beaten track tread by most visitors to Manhattan.  Constructed with the assistance of donations from 90,000 people totaling $600,000, the most money raised for a public monument at the time, the structure later suffered from neglect and fell into decline.[1]  Although it stands on a prominent point of Riverside Park overlooking the Hudson River, Grant’s Tomb is hidden in plain sight, with relatively few people venturing inside the mausoleum that contains the remains of President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. 

 

 Grant’s Tomb was constructed between 1891 and 1897. Photo source: xxxx

Grant’s Tomb was constructed between 1891 and 1897. Photo source: National Park Service

Grant’s Tomb was designed by New York architect John H. Duncan and constructed between 1891 and 1897.  The exterior is based on the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the interior is modeled after the Tomb of Napoleon at Les Invalides in Paris.  On the exterior, the structure consists of a square base surmounted by a conical dome with a tall, colonnaded drum level, all faced with granite.  The main entry on the south side of the structure is distinguished by a wide plaza with steps leading up to a portico covering monumental bronze doors.  The ground floor has a large oculus through which the sarcophagi on the floor below can be seen.  Polished marble from Massachusetts is used for the interior floor surfaces and the railings, trim and dados at the walls of the ground floor and basement are clad with Italian marble.  The upper areas of the interior, including four barrel vaults facing the cardinal directions of the base of the monument, the pendentives where the square base transitions to the dome, the gallery at the drum level and the coffered ceiling at the interior dome, are faced with ornamental cast plaster.

The Grant Monument Association operated Grant’s Tomb until 1959, at which time the National Park Service took over management control and the site was designated as General Grant National Memorial.  From the 1970s to the early 1990s, visitors who ventured to Grant’s Tomb would find the granite walls of the monument covered with graffiti, the glass in the windows broken and the site in an overall state of disrepair.  Finally, faced with public criticism and a threat from the Illinois state legislature to move the remains of the Grants to their state, the federal government undertook much-needed repairs.  Following the restoration effort, the monument was re-dedicated on April 27, 1997.

Hands-on investigation of the plaster pilasters. Photo by Vertical Access.

Hands-on investigation of the plaster pilasters. Photo by Vertical Access.

As part of a site inspection of the General Grant National Memorial performed in 2012, National Park Service staff identified areas of cracking at the interior plaster at the drum level of the rotunda.  Some of the plaster at the pilasters at this area appeared detached.  The National Park Service requested the services of Vertical Access to perform a hands-on investigation of the plaster pilasters to better understand the causes of the cracks and determine whether the current condition presented an immediate public safety hazard.

As part of the investigation of the interior plaster, Vertical Access utilized several non-destructive and diagnostic tools.  As a first step, VA laid out the location of rigging holes in the coffered ceiling for the industrial rope access approach.  To locate the first rigging hole at the ceiling, a self-leveling laser level positioned on the ground floor was first used to establish the plumb line for the drop ropes in front of one of the pilasters.  To confirm which coffer was in line with the center of the pilaster when viewed from the attic side of the ceiling, the unfinished attic side of the coffer was warmed with a heat gun and the finished interior side was viewed with an infrared camera from the ground level.

 Conditions were documented using annotated drawings, still photography and video. Photo by Vertical Access.

Conditions were documented using annotated drawings, still photography and video. Photo by Vertical Access.

Once drop ropes were in place, Vertical Access technicians performed the hands-on investigation of the plaster pilasters, using diagnostic tools to better understand the construction of the pilasters and further investigate conditions of deterioration observed at the face of the pilasters.  A wall tie locator and rigid tube borescopes with a 0° (straight ahead) and 90° (right angle) direction of view as well as a 36”-long flexible tube borescope were employed during the investigation.  A video camera attached to the borescope unit provided recorded documentation of the subsurface conditions.  The cast plaster sections of the pilasters appear to be attached to the brick back-up structure with wood blocking.  Metal elements including wire ties and nails appear to have been used but no evidence of straps or anchors into the plaster was found.

 Conditions identified during the hands-on and close visual examination of the interior plaster were documented using annotated drawings, still photography and video.  At the conclusion of the investigation, Vertical Access installed crack monitors at two different pilasters.  Although the condition of the interior plaster does not represent an immediate threat to public safety, the crack monitors will be used to help determine whether the cracks observed are active.


* From Groucho Marx in the game show “You Bet Your Life”.  The correct answer is no one, since Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia are entombed but not buried in the memorial.

[1] Keister, Douglas.  Stories in Stone New York: A Field Guide to New York City Area Cemeteries & their Residents: Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2011.  Page 142.

The Cathedral: The Next 100, or 5000, Years

A structure planned to “stand with practically no visible sign of change for 5,000 years.”  That assessment, by Perry Borchers, was published in the Ohio State Engineer journal in 1940, soon after west façade of The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine was completed and just before the entire length of the Cathedral was consecrated in 1941.[1]  In fact, much of the planned Cathedral structure had not yet been completed at that point, including the two towers on the west side, the north and south transepts and the spire above the crossing.  However, eight days after the Cathedral was opened for the first time from the main portal on the west to the end of the apse on the east, and almost fifty years after construction of the Cathedral began in 1892, the United States entered World War II and work on the Cathedral came to a halt.  Construction resumed in the 1970s, and in the 1980s about fifty feet of height was added to the south tower.

The Cathedral, situated in Morningside Heights in Manhattan on land acquired by the Episcopal Diocese in 1887, was originally designed by George Lewis Heins and Christopher Grant LaFarge in 1888.  Construction of the apse began in 1892 and the large central dome, constructed by the Guastavino Company, was completed in 1909: the largest dome ever built by the firm.  After Heins died, Ralph Adams Cram was hired in 1911 to replace LaFarge as the architect of the Cathedral.  Construction of the nave, which Cram designed in a Gothic revival style, began in 1916 with the first finish stone on the south façade laid in 1925.  Cram also designed the west façade of the Cathedral with its flanking towers and the gothic ornamentation for the original apse.  The exterior cladding of the nave and towers is granite, with limestone used in the interior, the tracery of the stained glass windows at the nave and clerestory, and for trim and figurative carvings at the west facade.

Although the Cathedral is by anyone’s estimation a grand and magnificent structure, Borchers’ prediction that it remain unchanged for 5,000 years was a bit of hyperbole.  Like any building, even one constructed by the finest craftsmen of the day using durable materials and proven engineering systems, the Cathedral is subject to the same deleterious effects of water, fire and earth movement as any other building.  In fact, all of these forces have affected the structure significantly over the past 100 years.

A structure such as the Cathedral requires constant maintenance, upkeep and attention.  Currently the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is undertaking a study of the entire structure.  The design team is led by structural engineer Robert Silman Associates and includes Building Conservation Associates and Vertical Access.  As part of the study, the team has been performing hands-on investigations of the exterior masonry, interior wall surfaces and ceiling; and evaluation of the condition of the exterior and interior materials and structure.  The information gained from this study will be used to prioritize repair projects and plan for future work on the Cathedral, so that it may retain its magnificence for the next 100, or even 5,000, years.


[1] Perry Borchers, “The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York,” Ohio State Engineer, vol. 23, no. 6 (May, 1940, 8-10).

U.S. Capitol Dome to Undergo $60 Million Restoration

The Capitol Dome Will Get A $60 Million Face-Lift, by Eyder Peralta, National Public Radio, October 22, 2013

The U.S. Capitol Dome is about to undergo a $60 million restoration. Construction is scheduled to begin in November and last for two years.

“From a distance the dome looks magnificent, thanks to the hard-work of our employees,” the Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers says in a statement. “On closer look, under the paint, age and weather have taken its toll and the AOC needs to make repairs to preserve the Dome.”

Ayers says this will be first time the dome will receive a complete makeover since the one it received in 1959 to 1960.

The kind of damage that plagues the Capitol Dome.

The dome was constructed of cast iron more than 150 years ago. As time went on, water infiltrated through pinholes in the Statue of Freedom and through cracks and open joints in the rest of structure, causing rust and claiming more than 100 decorative elements. Currently, the dome has more than 1,000 cracks and deficiencies. These pictures give you an idea of the kind of damage we’re talking about.  *    READ FULL ARTICLE

* Photos in the Architect of the Capitol Flicker gallery are from a condition inspection report performed by Vertical Access. See project profile.

Scaffolding to Cover Capitol Dome, by Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News, October 22, 2013

20 seconds into the video, see footage of Vertical Access team on the dome.

Screen shot of NBC video coverage of U.S. Capitol Dome restoration project includes Vertical Access team performing inspection of conditions.

Screen shot of NBC video coverage of U.S. Capitol Dome restoration project includes Vertical Access team performing inspection of conditions.