Closing the Gap

The front steps of the Study got reset today after their "vacation" on the lawn. Construction workers relaid support underneath the steps - instead of the piles of loose bricks - and then moved the steps back in place. Years ago, a previous crew apparently patched a sizable gap between the brick building and the steps, so this time, in an effort to make the work more stable and less prone to water damage, the crew poured cement to make a better fit.

Workers also repaired the crack in the bottom step and poured new cement in front of the steps. They still have to seal smaller gaps between the steps themselves as well as the attachments to the building, but they look sturdier already!

Wabash Men Help Museum

wabashvolunteers 011, originally uploaded by WallaceStudy.

Athlete volunteers from Wabash College move picnic tables on the grounds of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum as part of their Wabash Day community assistance activities.

Wabash Men Help Museum

wabashvolunteers 014, originally uploaded by WallaceStudy.

Athlete volunteers from Wabash College help scrape paint from the 1875 Carriage House on the grounds of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum as part of their Wabash Day community assistance activities.

Like a New Penny

Earlier this week, the construction workers put up a sample piece of the new copper that will become the dome. They wanted to make sure they had the measurements correct and that the copper would fit properly over the curvature and battens before they cut enough for the whole building (or even a whole side). It's not the green patina like the weathered gutters below - this is a glimpse of what the roof looked like when General Wallace first built the Study, and what it will look like when the Study Restoration Project is finished in the spring!

Because this was only a sample, they took the copper back to the shop and re-covered the wooden dome structure with the black weatherproof sheeting.

The Town that Lew Knew

Walk in the footsteps of a literary giant with The Town that Lew Knew, a free architecture walking tour of Crawfordsville. We'll see buildings in the neighborhood and business district that were here when Wallace walked the leaf-lined avenues.

The tour starts at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, October 9, at the Carriage House Interpretive Center, and ends there with light refreshments.

Hope to see you there!

Paint Analysis: Expect the Unexpected

Ratio Architects from Indianapolis began the paint analysis by revealing what is underneath the current paint layer. This prelminary test uncovered small pieces of the walls in different places in the Study: the entryway, under the benches by the fireplace, along the flowered frieze, and more.

Surprise! In the entryway of the Study, there's a geometric pattern, like blocks of color. Looking carefully at the photo, going right from the wooden door frame, the test revealed a teal rectangle outlined with black, surrounded by a taupe brown, and finally a thin red line forming another rectangle. The red and black lines seem to continue toward the corner through the splotches of bare plaster.

We thought there might be some decorative painting in the Study, but the last place we expected to find it was the entryway. As Museum Director Larry Paarlberg says, "It's very Victorian. A lot of people at that time were blocking colors on walls, although this is an unusual pattern." Even though it fit with the times, why put such attention in such a small part of the building?

To add to the mystery, the architect did not get all the way up to the dome to see if any decorative painting - such as a military scene or a gradient of color - is there. The current scaffold is not high enough, so he will have to return when a higher scaffold is in place.

In the meantime, we're left to wonder: what kind of pattern did Lew have in the entryway, and how can we best interpret it when we can take tours inside the Study again? And if he painted the entryway decoratively, what may he have done to the more dramatic dome or flowered frieze?

Good News and Bad News

The bad news about the Study Restoration Project is that two days after they removed an entire side of the roof, it poured rain for hours! We haven't had rain in weeks - maybe the best way to make sure it's wet out is to start major construction.

The good news is that the plastic seal they put over the exposed area is holding water, so though it is raining outside, it's not raining INSIDE as it has been for years. No buckets out today, hooray!

Workers have also removed the damaged plaster from an area of the domed ceiling that has absorbed moisture over the years. With the loose plaster gone, now we can see that there is more than one color of paint there. What color was the ceiling? Was it different colors at different times, a gradient of color, or - as one historic account suggests - a scene celebrating the military that Lew Wallace loved so much? Next week Ratio Architects will take over 70 samples as part of a paint analysis project that dovetails with the Study Restoration, and we hope to get some answers!