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Pergola at the Wilbur Mansion
This pergola was built for an historic residence in Champaign, Illinois. The structure is based on of the original design found from photographs of 1935 and was well over one hundred feet in length. When New Prairie began the project, only the original limestone foundation remained at the site.
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Detail of Pergola
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Orpheum Children's Science Museum
New Prairie Construction recreated the missing or damaged plaster moldings that decorated the interior of this turn-of-the-century downtown theatre which hosted many prominent vaudeville acts, including Jack Benny and the Marx Brothers. New Prairie repaired or replaced all surfaces in the lobby and mezzanine areas and adapted the floor plan to meet the functional requirements of a children's science museum. The second phase remodel of the museum was completed by New Prairie in the year 2000.
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Detail of plaster moldings at Orpheum
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Staircase at the Orpheum
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Victorian Italianate Homestead
Work on this East Illinois homestead is ongoing. Built in 1874, the house has seen many changes over the years. New Prairie is working closely with the architect and homeowners to return it to its former glory.
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Demolition begins
When New Prairie began work on the house, they had to tear off the exsisting porch, which was added on in the 1980s. All of the shutters, corbels, trimwork, and occuli (little round windows in the attic) had to come off for reproduction or refurbishment.
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Repair and remortaring of brick
Improper repairs had damaged the original soft brick. Before repointing, it is important to conduct some preliminay research and analysis on unweathered portions of the historic mortar and brick. Excessively strong or vapor impermeable mixes, such as Portland cement, are inappropriate for historic applications, and will cause damage to the building. You can see this with any historic structure that has been repaired with Portland: not only does the cement look out of place with the original lime mortars, it will inevitably cause spalling and cracking of the bricks. For more information about lime mortars and historic brick structures, go to http://www.usheritage.com/.
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Original Brick
Luckily, we were able to salvage original brick from the back patio and in the crawl space. This could be used to replace missing or damaged bricks.
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U.S. Heritage Training
Continuing education is a high priority at New Prairie. The crew and Marion, Inc. spent several days enjoying the beautiful weather and getting trained in historic mortaring techniques. Marion, Inc. completed the repointing, as well as repairing some of the keystones over the windows.
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Little Bear helping himself to some water
During our training, a stray cat realized we were all generous with our lunch meat and attention, and he (Little Bear) eventually adopted our project manager and went home with him.
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Repointing in progress
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South view of remortaring
The bricks have been replaced and cleaned and the mortaring done correctly to maintain the integrity of the structure. Good for another hundred years!
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Original corbels
Much of the original trimwork on the outside of the house was missing or in bad repair. Corbels, shutters, and scrollwork all needed to be addressed. New Prairie restored as much of the original trim as it could; the rest we fabricated to match the old.
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Restored corbels
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Shutter work in progress
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Cupola and roof
The original cupola was destroyed in a fire in 1920s. The new one was built on the ground and lifted to the top of the house with a crane, and a new lightening rod was installed. A standing seam copper roof replaced the old roof. Watch a video of the cupola raising at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyxWz7NLL4U .
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Cupola in progress
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South view of cupola
Pairs of arched windows grace the north and south sides of the cupola; the east and west faces each have one window and a doorway that leads out on to a small balcony.
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Framing for cupola
This picture looks down into the attic, where the stairs to the cupola will be located.
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Cupola/HVAC framing
The original framing for the cupola was not adequate. Six posts were salvaged to beef up the framing: two of the originals, two from the barn on the property, and two from a barn down the road.
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Attic
Because structural and mechanical work was needed, the attic floorboards were taken up. They were numbered and eventually put back in their original locations. The brick kneewalls were all repointed using historic lime mortars, and insulation was added above. Any new framing members that are visible will be stained to match the originals. A short wall was added around the stairs for safety.
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Occuli-eye
The original occuli were in bad repair and were removed to be used as templates for new ones.
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Occuli in progress
Forty beveled staves were glued and biscuited together to form a round column, which was then cut into sections to make each new window. After being sanded and painted, glass was installed. The windows were made weathertight on installation.
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Porch framing
Framing begins on the new porch.
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Front porch
While the porch is larger than the original structure, the columns and trimwork are all being recreated from old photographs.
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Column trim pieces
Each column had 52 separate pieces of trim that had to be fabricated, put together, painted, and installed.
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Porch roof framing
The new porch features a beautiful curving roof.
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Laminated arc
In order to make the curved part of the porch roof, a full-size template was made on site, then transported back to our shop. Fifteen sheets of high-quality 1/4" luan were laminated together with exterior-grade glue, and the piece was clamped to a giant jig of plywood and 2x4 blocking.
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Detail of arc
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Front view of house
Victorian trim is painstakingly applied to the porch. Many of the pieces were repeatedly kerfed on the back side to allow them to bend around the curve. The corbels and and occuli have already been installed under the eaves.
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Detail of trim
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Detail of trim
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