William Thomas Residence | ? | 21 fl | Complete

[fuller]

I would imagine they will first clean the entire facade, then stain both the old and the new to achieve a uniform look.

It won't be that Wal-mart new that you're looking for, but if they do this the restored facade will blend in quite nicely with its surroundings.

If that sounds like second best just think of all those 75-year-old movie stars with the bleached-white teeth of a 10-year-old, and the cognitive dissonance that contrast creates in the beholder.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by fuller

I would imagine they will first clean the entire facade, then stain both the old and the new to achieve a uniform look.

It won't be that Wal-mart new that you're looking for, but if they do this the restored facade will blend in quite nicely with its surroundings.

If that sounds like second best just think of all those 75-year-old movie stars with the bleached-white teeth of a 10-year-old, and the cognitive dissonance that contrast creates in the beholder.

we shall see.. we shall see..

I think a nice white and dark theme would go well,.. like this - click the link below to read how they recreated the stone:



http://www.cpci.ca/en/about_us/proje...th/march_2015/

[fuller]

Hopefully they'll do it something like that. That would be very nice, a little contrast to highlight the details.

Still, I hope the white tones aren't bleach white because then it just looks like a modern reproduction and that wouldn't do justice to the high level of restoration that's being carried out on that facade. I'm really happy that it's not all reproduction or just 'inspired by' the original facade. Great job!

[fuller]

In the amazing restoration job you've cited above they've replaced the stone details.

I couldn't figure out how they were so sharp. At first I thought they must have found stone carvers to recreate the pieces. Reading further from your link I see that they used 'cast stone' for the recreations.

I didn't know about cast stone, but it seemed obvious that this wasn't precast concrete.

Now I'm wondering how much of the stone I have admired over the years is actually cast stone.

The pieces even feature 'chisel' marks on the flat faces. Yet this material is much more durable than the cut stone it emulates, and probably much more resistant to the acid rain that destroys details in soft stones like limestone.

I'd guess the new pieces on the Thomas building are similar cast stone, but who cares if it's more durable and you can't tell the difference.

It will be interesting to see how they achieve even shading between the new and old pieces if they do in fact try to do that. I'd still like to see it look aged, like it has stood there for a while, with a distinct contrast between the unit stone and the details.

There probably isn't enough coal smoke in the air today for that patina to develop on its own over time unless over many, many years. Will they stain it, or leave the obvious contrast between old and new piecers, as conservators are doing more often these days.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by fuller

In the amazing restoration job you've cited above they've replaced the stone details.

I couldn't figure out how they were so sharp. At first I thought they must have found stone carvers to recreate the pieces. Reading further from your link I see that they used 'cast stone' for the recreations.

I didn't know about cast stone, but it seemed obvious that this wasn't precast concrete.

Now I'm wondering how much of the stone I have admired over the years is actually cast stone.

The pieces even feature 'chisel' marks on the flat faces. Yet this material is much more durable than the cut stone it emulates, and probably much more resistant to the acid rain that destroys details in soft stones like limestone.

I'd guess the new pieces on the Thomas building are similar cast stone, but who cares if it's more durable and you can't tell the difference.

It will be interesting to see how they achieve even shading between the new and old pieces if they do in fact try to do that. I'd still like to see it look aged, like it has stood there for a while, with a distinct contrast between the unit stone and the details.

There probably isn't enough coal smoke in the air today for that patina to develop on its own over time unless over many, many years. Will they stain it, or leave the obvious contrast between old and new piecers, as conservators are doing more often these days.

In addition they didn't know where the original stone was quarried, which has a slightly yellowish tone to it.

And yeah a lot of the "stone' you see on restorations is actually cast stone - and agreed who cares, as long as it's more durable

And that patina developed over like 200 years. Mind you a good portion of it was also covered up for quite some time.

That article is greatly educational as to how to go about restoring a facade. A lot of civilizations do it - the Mayan descendants- when one of their statue erodes away simply carve a new one to replace it -it's the details you want to preserve in the end. If a piece is hundreds of years old but eroded away to the point of not even being recognizable then what is the point, then the overall aesthetic is lost.

Also what gets me, is the 2/3s of the stone that was covered up, is so much DIRTIER than the part that was left exposed. Was the stone bleached over time? Or is the rest of the stone really that dark and sooty?

[LikeHamilton]

They started to take the crane down today!

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by LikeHamilton

They started to take the crane down today!

woohoo!

[King&James]

Oh no Mr Bill, too soon. Kresge site not ready yet!

[thomax]

William Thomas Residences Crane Removal | 11/11/17 by Joe, on Flickr


William Thomas Residences Façade Installation | 11/11/17 by Joe, on Flickr


William Thomas Residences Construction | 11/11/17 by Joe, on Flickr


William Thomas Residences Construction | 11/11/17 by Joe, on Flickr

[Chronamut]

Whats with the splotchy discolouring on the stones flanking the middle pediment? Also it looks like there are stone-jut-out pieces missing on each side of the pediment if you compare it to the original postcard image of what it used to look like..

Methinks they didn't calculate this part properly - it most likely was a slightly narrower pediment, that would have had square end finishes above the stone and then continued on both ends...

So I have gone to the trouble of making it look how it SHOULD. (I am VERY good at photoshop editing btw ) - looks like all they did below was take the standard pediment size and plop it on top, which isn't in the proper proportions in this instance.



So let us compare the pre-restoration with the current restoration:

prime:



post-damage:



current restoration:



Hamilton23, if you're reading this, any chance you can run this by your uncle who's working on this restoration and get this fixed? Probably not but.. eh.. worth a shot..

[thomax]

William Thomas Residences | 11/13/2017 by Joe, on Flickr

[Chronamut]

er did they.. run out of the same coloured brick..?

[ScreamingViking]

It is odd.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

It is odd.

rather offputting.. well.. at least the top colour of brick matches the building beside it..

unless this is a result of salt leeching out.. because the bricks THEMSELVES look the same colour it's the mortar that looks different..

[davidcappi]

They might just be wet due to the rain recently? They also could have given them a clean to get any excess mortar off of the surface. I know washing bricks after they've been laid is pretty common.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by davidcappi

They might just be wet due to the rain recently? They also could have given them a clean to get any excess mortar off of the surface. I know washing bricks after they've been laid is pretty common.

Yeah I was thinking something similar just cuz of the way it looks.. it could even just be that there is a lot of construction dust on the bottom bricks.. like many things I will reserve judgment for when it's done - it's hard to critique something while it's still ongoing.. just making observations.

'cuz yeah if you compare it to when it was all done all the brick looked to be the same colour:



If it is a clean I am liking it as it matches exactly the brick beside it the top part. They might also be adding the concave finish to the mortar whereas before the mortar might have been right up to the edge of the brick.

[Chronamut]

went by here last night - they have the second row of pediments half up now

[thomax]

William Thomas Residence Façade Installation | 11/27/2017 by Joe, on Flickr

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Yay!

[Chronamut]

great to see it go back up - wish the angle was better though so you could see the second row of pediments