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Present: Mark Almeda, Bill Barry, Nicole Benjamin-Ma, Tom Behrens, David Bliss, Susan Brauner, Cynthia Bubb, Gregory Colling, Marilyn Fenollosa, , Jack Glassman, Steve Jerome, Wendall Kalsow, David Kelman, Ryan Kennedy, Mark Landry, Ryan Mykaj, Robert Megardarich, Henry Moss, Pat Morrissey, Wendy Nicholas, Rob Olson, Deane Rykerson, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley 1. Partners in Preservation, National Trust for Historic Preservation: Susan Brauner described her time during rush hour drawing attention to the Trust's campaign to help about 25 local historic buildings. Several among the committee noted how sophisticated the program's organization seems and how it has sparked public attention. Others felt that the leading contestants in this beauty pageant were not favored for their architecture, but for their programmatic content. The program began in San Francisco in 2006 and spent successive years in Chicago and New Orleans. It will expend $10 million over 5 years on bricks-and-mortar preservation work, with further investments totaling $5 million from the World Monuments Fund. 2. Somerset Club Alterations, 42-43 Beacon Street, Boston: Rob Olson of Robert Olson Associates presented his firm's extensive recording, restoration, and reconstruction at this complex of buildings, which has evolved since William Sears built a house in 1822 on a site previously owned by John Singleton Copley. In 1806, Harrison Gray Otis began to develop nearby parcels. Alexander Parris (1780-1852) designed Sears's original house and its expansion in 1831. Both Sears and Otis expanded their holdings on adjacent sites in 1831. Sears reconfigured his building again in 1837 by creating a grand symmetrical frontage, moving its entrance to the main façade, and adding a third story. At that point, it was probably the most expensive dwelling in Boston. The construction of the third story matches the horizontal extension, so Rob thinks that it was added in the 1831 (or 1831 to 1837) expansion. In 1871, the Somerset Club acquired the Sears house and constructed, or expanded, renovated and raised, the rear ell where the main dining room is located. (Rob has an 1871 plan that suggests a wing existed on the footprint of the ell.). The second floor billiards room, once connected to bowling lanes above the main level kitchen, were destroyed in a 1945 fire. Rob Olson's design team consciously exploited the seams where separate periods of construction came together to introduce new vertical circulation; introduce and distribute utilities; and extend building systems up through the non-repetitive floor plans. Previously the building had offered little accessibility for disabled members; a new elevator replaced a redundant service stair and small service elevator to erase that limitation. There were horizontal interventions, most notably in the basement where excavation provided space to stack utilities runs above and below an improved service corridor. The service circulation is especially significant, where kitchen is separated from dining levels and where large functions are frequent events. The Club backs onto a street where trucks are not allowed. The mansard roof over the rear building had spread, and its instability was serious enough to require rebuilding with a new steel frame. The original 19th-century interior had been removed in a renovation in 1949 to convert the billiards room to a cluster of dormitory rooms. The 19th-century interior was recreated based on details surviving in the attic. Sheldon Austin created new lightweight plaster saucer domes with ornamental lay light openings, segmental ribbed ceiling sections and ornamental brackets The lay lights themselves were recreated with thin steel sections housed in a wood lattice detailed to create the appearance of the original construction. An elegant curving wooden staircase also needed remedial attention from Foley & Buhl, to reintroduce rigidity throughout its impressive height. Stair manuals and carpentry handbooks did not explain how these complex stairs were built; they combined cantilevers and a kind of corbelling action up the curving string. The granite facades were carefully surveyed for damage caused by the iron cramps embedded after 1821. These anchorage devices ruined the granite elevation from the roof down to the bottom of the third floor. Phoenix Bay State removed the stone, took out the iron and replaced the upper façade with the reused ashlar and some matching granite from new sources: the replacement granite was Mason granite. The cornice was heavily deteriorated and had to be entirely replaced. In addition to the corrosion-jacking, feldspar in the granite had eroded, and there was extensive sugaring and scaling. Marble cartouches in the façade were carved by Solomon Willard. The project was constructed in four phases over the last ten years. The most recent project, the interior renovation and restoration, required the Somerset Club to close its doors for ten months. Rob's team managed multiple contractors: M. F. Reynolds for exterior façade and roof restorations and rear ell reconstruction; Shawmut Design + Construction for the interior courtyard reconstruction and utilities; Consigli for the front gates; and Richard White & Son for work in the interior. The project cost about $23 million. Rightly, the Somerset Club is proud of its building and of the careful thought that informed their comprehensive reworking of the complex. They have suggested opening the building annually for an architectural tour and invited our BSA Historic Resources Committee to visit this summer. Rob has confirmed that the Committee can visit on Friday, July 17 from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. He reminds us that the dress code requires men to wear a jacket and tie. 3. Historic Custom House Symposium: Greg Colling is one of the organizers of a conference on the architecture, technology, and preservation of four New England custom houses designed by Robert Mills and built from 1832-1835. After a disastrous fire at the Federal Treasury Building in Washington, the Treasury Dept. attempted to make its future offices (like custom houses) fireproof. At that time, all Federal revenue came from tariffs: there were no income, sales, or capital gains taxes or death duties to support the national government. Sara Wermiel and John Bryan (who wrote two books on Robert Mills) are among the speakers. The symposium will be held on Saturday, June 20, 9:00 - 4:30, at the Newburyport Custom House Maritime Museum. Contact Greg for more information at gcolling@merrimackdesign.com or (978) 388-8222; http://committees.architects.org/hrc/09_04_20_Press%20Release%20Newburyport%20conference.pdf 4. Association of Preservation Technology-Northeast: Pat Morrissey is on the program committee for a conference planned for Feb. 2010 that will address insulation of historic structures. He is canvassing colleagues for suggestions for topics and possible presenters. (Boston Preservation Alliance is planning a fall conference on sustainability, and Historic Boston has begun to focus on the problems that may be posed for historic structures when energy conservation codes drafted for new construction begin to take effect.) To contribute ideas for the APT/NE event, contact Pat at pjm@conspec-rep.com or (917) 209-5363 (cell). 5. Gibson House Museum: Elizabeth Randall urged people to visit (and otherwise support) the Gibson House Museum at 137 Beacon Street in the Back Bay. The Gibson family pioneered the move from Beacon Hill to Back Bay in 1860 with their Renaissance Revival townhouse designed by Edward C. Cabot. The red brick and brown sandstone building is a National Historic Landmark. The coherence and singularity of its collection as a portrait of Victorian Boston was recognized as early as 1936, and twenty years later it became the museum that it remains today (617 267-6338).
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