Southeastern New England Educational and Charitable Foundation (SNEC) Experiential Learning Fund
Spring 2024 | PRES.532 Building Materials Technology Workshop
Spring 2024 - PRES 532 Building Materials Technology Workshop
Aaron Marcavitch, Adjunct Faculty
Executive Director, CT Landmarks 2020-2024 and Director of Economic and Community Development, Town of Enfield, CT 2024-
This course introduces students to common pathologies or failures of buildings and materials, composition, properties, and conservation treatment techniques for historic and existing building materials and systems. The course focuses on the use of condition assessment and material treatment techniques for elements such as wood, masonry, metals, glass, interior and exterior finishes. The course is taught in material-focused modules consisting of a once-per week 1.5 hour lecture component which included readings and discussions, assignment guidance and interaction, and a once-per week 4.5 hour site visit and workshop focused on conservation assessments and hands-on experience of materials, over the 14 week semester.
The SNEC Foundation provided financial support for the 4.5 hour site visits—including compensation for consultant participation, and student and faculty travel to the site locations. The course has not previously had access to the extent of consultant input, or travel to sites, as was provided this semester. This support transformed expectations of awareness and quality of work.
The course is design to enable students to
• Critically examine causes of failure in historic building materials.
• Build an understanding of how different building materials and techniques come together to form the whole of a structure.
• Develop ability to identify materials used in historic building construction.
• Understand the best methods for conservation, repair, and preservation of historic building materials.
Course Assignments
The course included five assignments
Research Paper (Modified MPPF Grant Request/Conditions Assessment)
1. Abstract/Outline of Work
2. Annotated Bibliography of Works/References
3. Peer Review 4. Final Paper
5. Final Presentation
Massachusetts Preservation Projects
Abstract Outline of Work
Historic Name: Harmony and Industry Mills
Current Name
24 ½ Van Houten Street
Location
33-37 Van Houten Street, Paterson, New Jersey 07505
Block/Lot
Block 4601 Lots 13, 14, 16, & 17
Current Owner
24 ½ Van Houten Street LLC
Current Use
Vacant
Construction 1830
Period of Significance 1857-1912
Designation
Contributing structure in the Great Falls of the Passaic / Society For Establishing Useful Manufactures Historic District (NHL)
Zachary Baker :
Aerial
View across Van Houten Street; Harmony Mill left, Industry Mill right
1882 Engraving
1973 view from parking lot across Van Houten, now Costello Park
Window Conditions
Brick Failure, bottom right
Sources
Historic American Engineering Record, “Industry Mill, Van Houten & Prospect Street, Paterson, Passaic County, NJ,” HAER NJ,16-PAT,17-, 1983, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/ item/nj0174/.
“Historic Significance Assessment: Mill Building at 24 ½ Van Houten Street Paterson, New Jersey,” Associated Cultural Resource Consultants, March 2004.
National Register of Historic Places, Great Falls of the Passaic/Society For Establishing Useful Manufacturers Historic District, Paterson, Passaic County New Jersey, National Register #70000391.
Wallace, Edith B. “An IncorporAtIon of the Adventurers” A History of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures, Paterson “Silk City” and its People, and the Great Falls of the Passaic River, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, December 2019.
Property: Captain Benjamin Pitman, Sr., House
At 57 Church Street - Bristol, RI
Property History: According to the Rhode Island Historic Preservation Commission’s Historic and Architectural Resources of Bristol, Rhode Island, the house at 57 Church Street was constructed in 1806 by seafarer Benjamin Pitman, Sr. Pitman and his sons were employed as sailors by the Churches and the Ushers—two prominent families in Bristol’s early history. The Benjamin Pitman, Sr., House was constructed around the turn of the nineteenth century, during a period of significant population growth in Bristol. This growth sparked further residential development in the vicinity of the town’s commercial center and the wharves that supplied it, including along Church Street. The Benjamin Pitman, Sr., House is reflective of the Federal architectural style that marked much of the new construction in Bristol during the early republican period. The house is part of the Bristol Waterfront Historic District.
Property Description: The Benjamin Pitman, Sr., House is a two-and-ahalf story wood frame house built in the Federal style. It features four bays, a central brick chimney, and a side gable roof, as well as a two-story ell addition on the rear elevation. The facade (or south elevation) of the house is clad in painted wood clapboards while the east and west elevations are clad in wood shingles. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles. The foundation material is unclear to me, though it appears to be covered in plaster or cement. The front porch appears to incorporate both brick and concrete materials. The house’s wooden decorative features including the window trim and door surround are typical of modest Federal stylization. The exterior of the Pitman, Sr., House shows signs of significant water damage, which has likely been facilitated by the presence of a large tree a few feet from the facade of the house and amplified by deferred maintenance.
Proposed Work Items:
Cladding & Woodwork:
Parts of the wood cladding, window trim, door surround and baseboard appear to be missing or deteriorated. Rotted materials need to be replaced. Significant paint failure must also be addressed.
Gutters & Downspout:
The house’s downspouts are not properly adjoined to the wooden gutter, which itself is significantly rotted. A drainage system that keeps as much water as possible away from the house needs to be installed.
Porch & Chimney:
The chimney is missing some bricks and thus requires repair. Additionally, there is a hole between the porch and the foundation, allowing for the ingress of water into the structure. The plaster-clad foundation and the concrete parts of the porch show signs of significant delamination. On the brick part of the porch, there is significant efflorescence and spalling. I hope to be able to research whether this is the house’s original porch in order to determine how the masonry failure and water damage exhibited here should be addressed.
Photographs:
The facade of the Benjamin Pitman, Sr., House at 57 Church Street.
View of Church Street, looking east.
The southwest corner of the Pitman, Sr., House, revealing significant gutter and downspout
The facade of the Pitman, Sr., House, revealing paint failure, wood rot, and masonry failure along the porch and foundation.
Property: Humboldt Fire Station
Providence, RI
B
ackground Information: The building that will be the subject of my Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund project is the Humboldt Fire Station, located at 155 Humboldt Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island. Humboldt Fire Station is a part of Wayland National Register Historic District in East Providence, which has 717 contributing and 30 noncontributing properties. Most of the buildings in the Wayland Historic District are residential, but a few commercial, civic, and religious buildings exist in the area as well. The district is characterized by the integrity of its early 20th century structures, labeling it a streetcar suburb, though its full period of significance is 1972 to 1954. There are a handful of surviving examples of various 19th century building styles, such as Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and the revivals.
Humboldt Fire Station was designed by E.T. Banning and constructed in the Beaux Arts style in 1906, serving as a fire station until the building’s 2017 retirement due to lack of demand for the station’s services as well as a financial need to consolidate the city’s fire stations. Though the Humboldt Station is no longer used as a full-service fire station, it is still used for air supply operations. The building is the second oldest fire station in Providence, after the Mount Pleasant Fire Station. Since the disuse of the fire station, it has fallen further into disrepair and is currently on the Providence Preservation Society’s Most Endangered Properties list.
Architectural Description: Humboldt Fire Station has a general T-shaped plan created by a rear ell in the southeast portion of the building. The structure is constructed from brick and mortar with wood decorative trim and wood entrances. The building has two projecting pavilions on either side of its front elevation. The first story of the pavilions contain entry doors that are flanked by 1/1 double hung sash windows, and the second story of the pavilions are flanked by ionic column pilasters. Centered on the front roofline of the pavilions are small, ornamented parapets as well as leaf -like sculptures at the outer corners of the projecting
pavilions. The indented portion of the front elevation has symmetrical fenestration created by two large bay openings on the first story as well as three pairs of 1/1, double-hung sash windows that are flanked by a single window of the same type at the outer edges of the elevation. The large bay doors feature masonry hoods with scrolled brackets while the second story windows have masonry keystone ornamentation above the window headers. The roofline includes a cornice with both large and small decorative dentil moldings. A simple belt course separates the first and second stories. In the rear of the building, there is a two-story ell that projects from the main block and a single-story covered driveway to the east of the ell. The remainder of the property that the building does not inhabit consists of paved driveway space.
The condition of the brick masonry is very good. The trim work and other decorative features on the fire station’s exterior are in need of attention. The missing section of cornice located on the center of the roofline of the front elevation has exposed the wood framing members underneath the cornice, leaving it to more rapidly deteriorate in the natural elements. Apart from the missing cornice, the remaining cornices as well as the belt course, window sills, bay door hoods and brackets, and the ionic column pilasters have considerable soot and biological growth accumulation on them. This biological growth and soot deposits are causing a dark discoloration in comparison to the light color of the building’s masonry features. Though the brick masonry is in good condition, it shows more minor signs of discoloration from biological growth and soot deposits. The wood surrounds of the building’s windows and doors as well as the doors themselves on the projecting pavilions show evidence of paint loss, though the most significant paint loss is surrounding the windows and doors of the first floor of the projecting pavilions.
Proposed Work Items:
The first proposed change to the Humboldt Fire Station is the restoration of the cornice at the center of the front elevation that has been missing for at least seven years since 2017, according to Google Map evidence. In the same project, the building’s exposed wood framing members from the section of missing cornice should be partially replaced due to its longterm exposure to rain and other weather elements, therefore shortening the life of the wood.
The second proposed change to the structure is the sanding and repainting of the doors on the projecting end pavilions as well as all of the window surrounds and wood features located in each of the building’s penetration locations.
The third proposed change would be the comprehensive cleaning of all of the fire station’s masonry features. Namely, the cornices and belt course need to be cleaned, but also the ionic column pilasters, window sills, brackets of the bay door hoods, the brick cladding, and the ornamental masonry features located on the roofline of the two projecting pavilions.
Image of the biogrowth-covered belt course, pilaster, and cornice
Google Map Image of the building and site of the Humboldt Fire Station
Photo showing the missing cornice and the deterioration of the wood members beneath the cornice
Humboldt Fire Station is a part of the Wayland Historic District that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Vernacular Beaux Art Fire Station
Supporting Documentation
Use and Potential Use
Use: Former fire station, currently used for air supply operations
Potential New Use: Community space, housing, artist studios
Current Owner: Providence Public Building Authority
Property Summary
-Plan consists of a rectangular main block with two projecting pavilions and a rear ell
-Unglazed brick cladding, cast stone decorative trim, copper-plated upper cornice and roofline ornaments, wood doors and windows
-Beaux Art ornamentation
-Door hoods, brackets, Classical Revival elements
Condition Assessment: Chimney
Missing bricks
Crumbling bricks
Condition Assessment: Drainage
Growth in/on gutter
Rotted wood gutter
Creosote build-up
Detached downspouts
Broken chimney crown
Missing downspout elbow
Condition Assessment: Cladding & Trim
Paint peeling to bare wood
Rusted flashing
Rotted cornice
Rotted threshold
Elisabeth Brown : Final Presentation – Benjamin Pitman, Senior, House
Proposed Project Scope
Phase I: Rainwater Management
- Assess roof membrane and patching as needed
- Apply new flashing on the inner side of the parapet walls
- Install new flashing and scuppers in the existing openings in the parapet walls
- Install new conductor heads and downspouts connecting to the scuppers
- Assess the parapet coping and apply sealant or replace as needed
Proposed Project Scope
Phase II: Prepare Masonry for Repairs
- Remove non-historic fire escape stairs
- Clear biological growth attached to the facade
- Carry out masonry cleaning tests in inconspicuous areas to determine the best method for cleaning without damaging the historic materials
- Clean masonry using appropriate methods in areas of heavy soiling and causing deterioration of the historic materials
Proposed Project Scope
Phase III: Masonry Rehabilitation
- Assess the masonry envelope to determine areas that require repointing, tucking, stitching, and replacement
- Determine appropriate mortar, pointing style, and masonry unit type for replacements
Use of Traditional Materials
Phase I: Rainwater Management
- Copper flashing, scuppers, and downspouts
- Brown aluminum as an affordable alternative
Phase II: Prepare Masonry for Repairs
- Remove non-historic elements causing deterioration
- Non-destructive methods of cleaning
Phase III: Masonry Rehabilitation
- Limited to localized repairs to retain historic materials
- Lime-based mortar matching existing masonry
- New masonry using traditional composition and firing technique
Zachary Baker : Final Presentation – Harmony & Industry Mills Rehabilitation
MASSACHUSETTS
HISTORICAL COMMISSION
WILLIA M FRANCIS GALVIN SECRETARY OF THE C OMMON W EALTH
Zachary Baker
Delaminating brownstone steps; missing brownstone unit between the landing and the foundation; stained, spalling, and efflorescing brick porch foundation; rusting iron railing.
Delaminating brownstone steps; stained, spalling, and efflorescing brick porch foundation; rusting iron railing.
Facade of the chimney, showing missing bricks and creosote build-up. Photo source: Google.
TheHumboldtFireStationcircledinred,showingitslocationwithin theWaylandHistoricDistrict
llaspaintfailureonthedoorandwood surroundsonthefirstfloorofeachprojectingpavilionofthe frontelevation,facingsoutheast RhodeIslandHistoricPreservationandHeritageCommissionInventoryForm
