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Present: Susan Brauner, Jack Glassman, David Hart, David Kelman, David King, Ryan Maciej, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Pat Morrissey, Ivan Myjer, Bill Remsen, Dean Rykerson, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Jonathan Smith, Chris Stanley, and Olga Vaisman 1. Association of Preservation Technology (APTI), Montreal Conference: David Hart, Jack Glassman, and Ivan Myjer reported that this year's conference had less time allocated for technical presentations than in the past few years, but that the quality remained good. Attendance was strong. Next year's conference is planned to take place in Los Angeles. Ivan and others discussed the difficulty of producing the technical publication, APT Bulletin, and noted that the burden had been shouldered by Diana Waite for many years. Ivan high-lighted the problem of getting good peer review responses as an integral part of the editorial process. Jack Glassman spoke about the APTI Northeast chapter's efforts to raise money for student scholarships for the conferences. Approximately 30 students attended, and twelve of these received scholarships. 2. Save Program, Cyprus, USAID: Bill Remsen has been a member of our committee for at least a decade and a half. During that time, he has managed projects for SPNEA, worked with excavations and conservation at the site of King Midas's court at Gordion in Turkey, guided restoration of 5M thick mud-brick walls in Cairo mosques, and acted as Chief Preservation Architect for the Preservation Society of Newport County. His presentation at our November meeting addressed the conservation of historic monuments in Cyprus as Senior Cultural Heritage Advisor for the SAVE Program, a long-running environmental and cultural historic preservation program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Bill began with a breathtaking timeline that charted advancing and receding waves of occupation of Cyprus starting with the Mesolithic, prey to the Romans, urbanized by the Venetians (Nicosia), conquered by Richard the Lionheart (city officials insulted his wife), who sold it to French crusaders, who built a fortified castle. There was a powerful, port-based Mediterranean economy. Byzantines developed the port, which flourished with carob warehouses, copper ore exports, and construction in marine limestone. Nicosia is now the only remaining divided major city in the world. Time was frozen there in a 100' wide band of urban stand-off after the 1974 Turkish invasion. Bill painted a scene worthy of the Center for Land Use Interpretation of 100 static Toyotas delivered to the no-man's-land immediately prior to the Turkish attack. Bill found little professional background in building conservation among Cypriot agencies and institutions. He began to introduce it. He set up training programs modeled on ICCROM and focused on local resources. These included mosaics, structural problems, moisture management, archaeology and archival needs. Several hundred people advanced through these programs and effectively reconstituted the knowledge base of the Departments of Antiquities. The training courses used live projects as part of their approach to learning. We have learned from Bill's past work that he is not shy about bringing advanced technology and exacting standards to sites where previous treatments had been rough or lacking entirely. In Famagusta at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Bill imported George Ballard from London as his structural engineer. The church was empty with bowed walls of weak limestone and "late" buttresses installed in the 16th century. They produced a cloud-point laser scan of the building, used a Haselbad rectified camera to enhance the cloud-point and converted it to a wire frame and built a 3-D model that was converted to Autocad. Photographs were applied to the cloud-point model. The cloud-point was extremely precise, documenting minute changes in plane, but the conversion to a 3-D model was fast. Bill still prefers traditional photogrammetry. These graphic documentation techniques were supplemented by the use of ground-penetrating radar to locate voids in the structural masonry. There had been earthquakes. Thermal scans helped locate moisture laden areas in the construction. Other projects include early Greek Kingdom Christian basilica in Soli with mosaics exposed to foot traffic and rain water. An Italian team submitted a price of $1,000/sq meter for restoration. Bill addressed roof problems and produced an elevated walk to protect the mosaics until restoration could go forward. A new Olive Museum came to life in an abandoned olive mill after thirty years of disuse. Bill's team tackled a mixture of mud bricks (a constant in his work outside of New England!), large and small stones, and a clay mortar with stone and terra cotta chips pounded into place. At the Cathedral Church of St. Manus in Morphu (late 1400's), a 1960 plaza of cast concrete tiles (terrazzo) and Portland cement ushered in five decades of water problems. Bill designed a new drainage system with perforated pipe, geotextile, and crushed stone below the concrete tiles. The 1960 plaza had funneled water directly into the timber rail at the base of an icon stand. Inside the building, Bill's team turned from civil engineering to paint conservation for the icon stand, a 15th century Siena-style assemblage enhanced by 500 years of incense and candle smoke with an additional flourish of Powder Post Beetle infestation entering from end grain and panel backs unprotected by gesso and paint. Twice yearly, Greek Orthodox services are allowed in this building. The bishop was banished to the south and visits annually on the saint's feast day. Bill Remsen's commitment to deeply reasoned preservation practices reaches from the Newport mansions to early and exotic construction types in remote locations (Gordion) and his career has slalomed through the vagaries of grant funding and foreign wars in ways that differ markedly from our more local practices. His presentation helps remind us of the seriousness of a preservation ethic that is often reduced to an unfelt design review hurdle by our commercial clients and local commissions. 3. Redevelopment threats to Ames Shovel Works, North Easton: Chris Milford, Jay Wickersham and Boston architecture firm Utile have produced an alternate approach for redeveloping this important site. Our committee has written letters of admonition and support to North Easton's historical commission and zoning board. Last week, we emphatically supported the nomination of this site to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's upcoming Eleven Most Endangered list. 4. Glass and Glazing Conferences: Jack Glassman and Susan Schur reported that organizers are working together to coordinate content of APTI/Northeast's 2009 conference and Technology & Conservation's 2010 technical symposium. APTI may connect their event to the Restoration & Renovation workshop series in Boston. Susan said that James Carpenter had agreed to deliver the keynote address for the Technology & Conservation gathering. 5. Milton Poor Farm: David Kelman is keeping watch over the town of Milton's efforts to determine an appropriate future use for this 36-acre parcel that abuts the Blue Hills Reservation. Willed to the Town by Gov. William Stoughton to support the poor of Milton, the Poor Farm was established in 1805. Five structures on the property date from the second half of the 19th century. The Town Selectmen are trustees for the property and a sub-committee may have a report completed by the end of this winter. 8:00 a.m., Thursday, 11 December 2008 Featuring Glazing Replacement in Historic Facades The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, Boston Henry Moss, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel co-leaders and scribes
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