AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

By drawing inspiration from the traditional practice of amending earthen plaster with natural organic additives, this study explores innovative possibilities of biological amendments inspired by other disciplines for the conservation of earthen built heritage. 

Psyllium husk, a plant-based polysaccharide, is traditionally harnessed for medicinal purposes and has recently gained attention in civil engineering and agronomy as a natural soil stabilizer. This research studies psyllium husk as a cross-disciplinary biological amendment for soil-based shelter coats on earthen structures. Through laboratory testing, we examined the physico-mechanical properties of soils amended with psyllium husk and evaluated its potential as a sustainable alternative to modern synthetic amendments.

Earthen heritage represents a global building tradition that has remained viable for millennia. Key advantages of earthen construction include local availability, low cost, and minimal environmental impact; however, earth is highly sensitive to climatic factors, especially moisture. The increasing intensity of rain events due to Climate Change threatens the stability of earthen heritage in traditionally arid regions. For over five decades, synthetic organic polymers have been used as amendment for the conservation of earthen materials. However, the effectiveness of such materials depends on soil composition and low moisture levels. With clean soil being a dwindling non-renewable resource, they also present issues such as incompatibility, irreversibility, and low sustainability. These limitations have prompted a search for alternative solutions that better address diminishing resources and a changing climate.

Biological materials, rooted in traditional building practices, offer promising alternatives. Historical examples, such as the use of animal blood and cactus pulp by indigenous and Hispano builders in earthen construction, demonstrate the potential of biological materials in enhancing soil stability. Modern lab-engineered materials like nanocellulose offer controlled quality and environmental benefits. Recently, fields like agronomy and civil engineering have developed commercial products that are readily available, cost-effective, and easy to use. Literature research identifies psyllium husk as a promising candidate.

Further evaluation focused on water erosion resistance and compatibility with raw-earth structures. Three stages of laboratory testing were conducted: soil characterization, shelter coat formulation, and performance testing of the amended soil. Testing procedures were designed based on various industry standards, while analytical techniques like X-ray diffraction and SEM-EDS provided deeper insights into the mechanisms of psyllium husk as an amendment and its effects on soil mineralogy and other critical properties.

Results show that psyllium husk performs comparably to synthetic amendments in enhancing the water erosion resistance of soil-based shelter coats. It also demonstrates improved compatibility and potentials of reusability. These findings suggest that psyllium husk could be a viable, sustainable alternative to synthetic materials in the conservation of earthen structures. The study also opens avenues for further research, including field testing, exploring diverse application methods, and investigating synergies with other amendment materials.

Beyond specific findings on psyllium husk, this research highlights the promising implication of applying biological material to conservation. By integrating materials and techniques from other fields, we can develop more feasible, sustainable, and adaptive strategies to address contemporary challenges such as Climate Change and diminishing resources.

In October 2023, conservators from Jablonski Building Conservation (JBC) performed a uniquely challenging paint stabilization treatment to preserve prisoner graffiti on thickly layered, severely distorted architectural paint applied to the brick and plaster walls of the Burlington County Prison Museum in Mt. Holly, New Jersey. The prison was completed around 1811 and was in continual use until 1965, with cell walls covered in 50-100+ layers of accumulated whitewash, distemper, and oil paints. Temperature and humidity fluctuations, water infiltration, changes in use, and structural repairs have culminated in the loss, deterioration, and distortion of much of the site’s intriguing and extensive prisoner graffiti on the dense paint finishes.

Guidance and research on flattening is widely available for other media such as paper, painted artworks, and decorative arts, but is almost nonexistent for architectural paint – particularly in a vernacular and arrested decay setting such as at the Burlington County Prison Museum. So, to improve legibility and increase surface area for securing paint fragments to the walls, JBC drew on techniques used in paper, paintings, and objects conservation by using heat, humidity and pressure to relax the most severely curled paint fragments. This unconventional treatment approach devised by JBC for the Burlington County Prison Museum exemplifies the value of leveraging techniques and knowledge from other disciplines, while amplifying the unique challenges of performing conservation treatments on architectural finishes in an uncontrolled environment.   

This presentation will elaborate on JBC’s approach, techniques, challenges, and results of the paint and graffiti preservation campaign at Burlington County Prison Museum and invite a broader discussion across disciplines about existing research, techniques, and case studies that could help inform similar architectural finishes conservation projects and research in the future.

The Historic Building Materials Collection (HBMC) is a repository of material samples collected from historic buildings and sites around the world. It serves as a resource for architects, historians, conservators, and scholars seeking access to traditional and historic building materials, ranging from the vernacular to high-style structures, including archaeological sites. The collection’s core function is to facilitate direct access to physical material specimens and enable advanced analysis, such as cross-section and thin-section microscopy, providing critical insights into the materials' composition, structure, and history.

However, with the physical collection outgrowing its designated institutional space, the need for a more efficient, user-friendly way to access and manage these materials has become urgent. Handling these historic objects too frequently increases their risk of damage, and traditional archival methods do not provide the discoverability or ease of access required for research. This has driven the need to create a digital interface that offers scholars and visitors the ability to explore the collection by cross-referencing, reduce wear and tear from handling the physical specimens, and boost awareness and engagement with the collection to a larger audience.

The digital interface for the HBMC acts as a searchable and query-able repository, allowing users to navigate the collection through various filters, such as material composition, building or site, object type, or date range. This repository streamlines the process of discovery by enabling users to explore and gather relevant information without physically handling the objects. Each specimen within the collection is assigned a unique object ID that encodes its material composition, site of origin, and date of creation, a redundant step that protects the integrity of the collection against loss of data. In addition, the unique ID links the specimen it to its virtual record, which expands with a narrative of the object, as well as its inherent deterioration conditions, previous research done, and any associated objects.

In addition to making the research process more efficient, the digital interface serves as a preservation tool. By moving the initial task of discovery to a public website, it is expected an increased awareness of the collection while minimizing the frequency of physical handling of the samples. Users can access high-quality images, 3D scans, and detailed metadata of each object, and only request physical access once objects have been identified. This system of controlled access not only protects the specimens from potential damage but also supports long-term conservation efforts.

The digital repository will support embedding analytical data to common constituents found in historic building materials, such as particle size distribution of an aggregate or the molecular spectrum of a known pigment, providing scholars with relevant scientific data immediately.

By combining digital technology with traditional archival methodologies, this interface will not only prolong the physical preservation of the collection but also facilitate research in conservation, enhancing the study and understanding of historic building materials.

In preservation, where recreated historic interiors are a norm, we know nothing tells the story quite like the real thing. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City has recently completed a multi-year, $7 million capital project to make the building more energy efficient, upgrade its HVAC system, restore the exterior masonry, and add strengthening materials to make the building more structurally sound. Although the museum did add a recreated apartment, conservators spent over 12 months preserving the paint, plaster, and wallpaper of the original “ruin” apartments.

The Tenement Museum is a five-story brick building located in a neighborhood densely packed with tenements and factories and was historically a first home for those new to the United States. Between its construction in 1863 and the 1930s, immigrants from over 20 countries lived in the tiny apartments of 97 Orchard Street. Instead of making additional alterations to meet changing housing codes in 1935, the landlord chose to evict all the tenants and sealed off the upper floors, leaving them uninhabited until 1988 when the museum took over the building. As a result, these apartments became a time capsule of immigrant life in America. The museum is unique in both its interpretation of the building and its occupants over time as well as its treatment of the ruin apartments in a state of “arrested decay” with their peeling wallpaper, curled plaster, bare wood, and faded linoleum. In addition to retaining the authenticity of the apartments, retention of these finishes assists in telling the story of the people who lived there, including changes in aesthetic tastes over time.  

Conservation work began prior to construction to install protection around historic fabric in areas of selective demolition. As time and funds were limited, conservation treatments to each room of each apartment could not be performed. The conservator and museum worked together to prioritize rooms and apartments based on location, remaining historic fabric, and future programming needs. This resulted in conservation treatment being performed in ten of the fourteen apartments accessible to the public. The opening of floors, walls, and ceilings was required for the installation of structural I-beams and sistering joists. This required additional collaboration with the contractor to ensure the openings were created in locations that would have the least impact on the historic fabric. 

Visitors often remark that the ruin apartments are their favorite. In these spaces there is a direct visceral connection to the past: people lived in these rooms, walked these floors, and touched these walls. Retaining that connection is vital to the museum’s mission. 

This paper will discuss the importance of the collaboration between all parties involved in the project and will discuss some of the conservation challenges in stabilizing the ruin materials and making them safe for visitors while retaining the look of abandonment at the Tenement Museum.

A National Historic Landmark located in Miami, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens was constructed between 1914 and 1922 and features 14 distinctive structures. Though there are numerous highly decorated and site-specific spaces throughout the estate, the Swimming Pool Grotto is a particularly unique feature. Containing a ceiling mural painted by the distinguished American artist Robert Winthrop Chanler in 1916, it portrays a vibrant “undersea fantasy” that provides an immersive experience. A testament to Chanler’s distinctive, playful style, it is only one of only three publicly accessible Chanler murals in the United States.

However, the Swimming Pool Grotto at Vizcaya represents a particularly significant conservation challenge due to its unique design and the environmental pressures it faces, and surface deterioration was visible as early as 1918. The mural’s deterioration is particularly severe due to Chanler’s use of water-soluble paints, Plaster of Paris, aluminum gilding, and glazes ill-suited to the humid, coastal environment. These materials have led to significant paint loss, plaster detachment, and extensive damage. Recent assessments have also revealed corrosion in the underlying structural elements, adding to the urgency of the preservation work needed. Over the past 15 years, Vizcaya has meticulously documented the mural’s declining condition while embarking on a comprehensive conservation survey, undertaking a preliminary assessment in 2012, a structural systems analysis in 2014, a comprehensive condition assessment in 2017, and an environmental survey in 2023. In 2023, Vizcaya engaged an external conservation firm to address flaking throughout the painted surface and undertake a sample treatment area while simultaneously commissioning contractors to analyze the necessary repairs to the ceiling substructure and the Living Room floor above. The findings from these recent evaluations have emphasized the urgent need for more drastic intervention.

In 2024, Vizcaya was awarded a $750,000 Save America’s Treasures grant as administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior. With a $750,000 match, this will enable us to perform necessary work to the substructure of the Living Room floor above the mural. This marks a transformative step forward in this conservation endeavor. This funding will support critical interventions, including structural repairs to the Living Room floor above the mural, which are essential to stabilizing the Grotto and ensuring the preservation of its artistic and historical integrity.

This presentation will discuss the extensive years-long preparatory work as well as the first phase of the work in the Living Room above that must be undertaken prior to the upcoming mural conservation. It will highlight the interdisciplinary collaboration that has been required to address the Swimming Pool Grotto’s complex conservation issues, encompassing research and analysis, structural engineering, and architectural conservation techniques, specifically cathodic protection. By sharing insights into the challenges faced and the collaborative strategies employed, this presentation will underscores the vital role of multi-disciplinary professional collaboration in the preservation and conservation of environmentally challenging and historically significant sites, showing that it indeed takes a village to save an American treasure like the Swimming Pool Grotto at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.

“Understanding the Problem and Defining the Goal: Environmental Assessments in Historic Buildings and Collections in the NPS, Region 1”

 

Historically within Region 1 in the NPS, environmental problems within historic house museums were dealt with by either complete replacement of their HVAC systems or by the installation of new, sometimes invasive systems that could fix the perceived problem.   However, this problem was often not fully identified, or not well defined from what was originally perceived as the initial issue such as a mold outbreak, high or low humidity, or too high or low temperatures.  Additionally, the condition of the collections was not examined for evidence of environmental damage.  Now, the Historic Architecture, Conservation, and Engineering Center (HACE) in Region 1, has developed Environmental Assessments that, often with the assistance of contracted professionals, assess the historic building envelope, collect environmental data, and examine the condition of the collections contained therein, to determine any problems and to define the goal of the interior environment before a solution is implemented.

Too often, condition problems in historic house museums are viewed as solvable by the implementation of controlled HVAC systems.  Mold outbreaks or uncomfortable summer or winter conditions are the impetus for system upgrades.  However, without examining the current condition of the buildings and exhibited collections in greater detail, as well as the behavior of the building to the ever-changing exterior environment, we cannot know how to effectively solve any system problem.  These Assessments use targeted systems-wide evaluations of the building envelope and building systems to fully understand the current environment.  Evaluations such as envelope condition assessments, differential pressure testing, scoping of ductwork and chimneys, thermal imaging, pollution monitoring, temperature and humidity data analysis, moisture monitoring, and other data collection that might inform decisions and shed light on observed conditions.  

The objective of these assessments is to propose what environmental parameters can reasonably be maintained in the Region’s uninsulated historic exhibition buildings. This can be achieved by thoroughly understanding the building design, and the current quality of environment the building has been able to achieve.  This approach has been taken with numerous historic buildings in Region 1 of the National Park Service over the past five years, such as Lindenwald, the home of Martin Van Burren; the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York; and the Rockefeller Mansion in Woodstock, Vermont.   The projects are supplied with specific funding for the purpose of determining the best possible outcome of system replacement for these historic buildings.  Smaller condition assessments of collections have also been implemented as requirements for changes or upgrades to building systems of any kind to ensure that the interests of the collections and building fabric are considered during system design.  It is the hope of the author that these Environmental Assessments be viewed as baseline documents for any historic building, just as Historic Structure Reports (HSRs), Historic Property Project Documentation (HPPD), or Historic Furnishing Plans (HFPs).

Planning one storeroom with integrated preventive conservation controls is admittedly a complex endeavor. But how do large organizations undertake comprehensive storage planning, especially when they have fifty storage areas of 250,000sf in three historic Manhattan research centers (plus a giant high-bay storage facility in New Jersey)? How does an organization begin to steer planning to meaningfully incorporate climate action methodology and build resilience systems? What coaching, education, and facilitation are needed to redirect a storied institution from localized episodic planning to a powerful and pervasive strategy to protect collections?

The Research Libraries for the New York Public Library (NYPL) is building a foundation for dynamic storage planning for a changing world. Large institutions need to focus on global, values-based thinking when building or renovating collections storage to equitably incorporate sustainability and preservation concepts. With support from the Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections (SCHC) program of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), NYPL designed a collaborative pre-planning exercise to inform long-range collection storage planning. A project team of NYPL stakeholders and experts in cultural heritage architecture, preservation environment, and sustainability collaborated to establish a path toward a more responsive and ongoing storage planning model. The project included a week-long walkthrough of all storerooms, followed by several months of distillation of these observations. The project established in its report foundational planning tasks, maintenance tasks, and capacity concepts for exploration in future storage planning.

This talk will discuss building a unified momentum through sustained institutional messaging, risk-taking, and taking advantage of key moments. A specific area of focus will include relationship-building between collection management, facilities, capital planning, energy, health and safety, and curatorial staff to build trust and create space for planning. Discussion of the pre-planning exercise will highlight conditions NYPL is attempting to address, concepts the pre-planning team used for structuring their observations, and logistical practicalities of planning this type of onsite assessment. 

Building on the success of the pre-planning grant, NYPL received a second NEH SCHC grant in August 2024 to develop the Collection Space Construction Design Standard. NYPL will convene experts in architecture, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, fire protection, security, and sustainability, to create construction design standards for reading rooms, storage, and collection workspaces that will be made available to other institutions. This presentation will also include an update on this project, as well as collection storage’s high-level inclusion in NYPL’s new strategic plan.

The onset of Russia's war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, demonstrated the country's government unprepared to protect its cultural heritage from destruction. And yet, in the early days of the invasion, members of the non-governmental Society for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Lviv rose to this existential challenge. They organized the city populace and, at their own expense, procured protective materials and implemented strategies to safeguard vulnerable cultural heritage sites. This grass roots effort then became a role model for other communities, quickly spreading throughout the country. International organizations also became involved, providing risk assessment strategies, additional materials, and sophisticated instrumentation to document war damage and implement a preventive conservation program. My talk will shed light on this evolutionary process, the role of conservators in it, and outline pathways for the future.

There are always challenges for collection care, particularly in a historic building. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History is no different. The building was constructed as a museum, music hall, and a library in 1898. There have been several expansions and reorganizations since then, including a major expansion in 1907 and an expansion for Art in 1974. The building complex now houses a public library, music hall, Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh (CMP) offices, the Museums of Art (CMOA) and Natural History (CM). The library and music hall are part of the complex but are separate entities. The museums and the music hall facilities are taken care of by the CMP Facilities, Planning and Operations (FP&O). The building complex is on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

In preventive conservation, we consider the building envelope as the first line of defense for collection care. Finding the time, resources (staff and money), and setting priorities for repairing gaps in the 125-year-old building is challenging. The roof, walls and windows leak and the numerous environmental systems undergo constant repair. FP&O does an incredible job, but their priorities often differ from ours.
 
We recently had the opportunity to prototype a new method for improving some of these leaks in the bird collection. The bird collection has large casement windows original to the 1907 building. The windows were covered with black-out shades. Cabinets were backed up to the windows and radiators, exposing collections to temperature extremes. When I arrived in 2009, the blackout shades were disintegrating. The windows behind the cases leaked – both air and insects. Working with the new collection manager (Serina Brady) and our head of operations, we developed a strategy to improve the situation, while respecting the historic structure. 
 
We approached the problem as a collaboration between the conservator, collection manager for the bird collection and new operations manager, discussing each step as we moved forward. Interior storm windows were constructed, and new blackout curtains were made, all in-house to save money. 
 
This paper will examine the efficacy of the strategy we employed. It will look at process, resources, and the advantages/disadvantages of what was done. Did the methods we used make the much-needed improvements to the environmental conditions of storage? Was the time and money we spent worth the effort? There are several other collection storage spaces that are faced with the same challenges. Can we use this strategy to make improvements in these spaces as well?

Heating ventilation and air Conditioning (HVAC) systems are an integral part of our collection facilities. We rely on them to acclimatize our storage spaces, keep our visitors comfortable and happy, condition our displays, and keep the moisture under control to prevent mold in our buildings. When these systems function properly all is bliss, however, even the slightest malfunction of these systems can have a major effect on a collection space. These effects can range from high moisture levels, the inability to achieve set points, to comfort complaints from visitors.

These problems can lead to thousands of dollars in abatement or remediation and potentially cause damage to collection materials.  Many HAVC issues are more common than most would believe, impacting collecting institutions as well as commercial facilities across the country every day. Compounding this problem is the fact that many institutions are striving to reduce their carbon footprint and be more sustainable. Unfortunately, inefficiencies can negate the benefits of any implemented sustainable strategy by forcing a system to use more energy to perform a task that it is struggling to achieve.  While these issues can keep staff members up at night, there are ways to avoid HVAC malfunctions and practical solutions to resolve many of them.

Collections staff may be the first ones to notice that something is amiss within storage and display spaces. Data monitoring programs and staff presence in the collections spaces often help them identify issues or concerns before the facilities staff can see them. This information can help the facility’s team resolve the problem.

This presentation will cover many of the common HVAC issues that collecting institutions encounter from leaking condensation lines to high dew points. It will describe the causes of these issues including, but not limited to, congested drain lines, cooling coil inefficiency, poor airflow and dew point problems in a space. The presentation will also elaborate on the risks these issues pose to the facility and collections, and some ways to avoid or correct them. Attendees will learn how other institutions work to solve these problems, how to collaborate with facilities and their administrative team to solve them, and what some of the solutions are that they can bring back to their organizations.

More cultural heritage sites across the United States are at risk of flooding than previously recognized due to the escalating effects of climate change. The National Flood Insurance Program, which is responsible for mapping and communicating flood risk to citizens, has had little impact on the cultural heritage stewardship community. As a result, there is generally low flood risk awareness, low flood insurance take-up rates, and minimal investment in long-term adaptation among site and collections stewards. More sophisticated, accessible tools for understanding flood risk are now available and should be leveraged to promote a culture of flood preparedness within the field.

As disaster planning is becoming increasingly integrated into cultural heritage site management, most preparedness resources focus exclusively on collections, largely omitting consideration for the historic structures which house and are the backbone of many sites and collections. This may be because strategies for preparing historic structures for flooding require specialized knowledge of historic architectural systems, building codes, and preservation standards that collections stewards do not have - particularly at smaller sites and institutions. 

The historic preservation community, conversely, has not sufficiently committed to developing and supporting preparedness guidance which integrates structures preparedness with the complexities of site and collection management. What guidance is available on flood preparedness for historic structures is written primarily for private property owners and is deferential to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, which do not formally promote adaptation. 

This presentation, based on a larger masters thesis project, therefore examines what flood preparedness guidance for historic structures at cultural heritage sites does exist and recommends how the cultural heritage stewardship community can improve and promote flood preparedness before their irreplaceable historic museums and sites, and the collections they support, become functionally obsolete or lost due to flood risk.

For various decades, countless natural threats —particularly hurricanes— have assailed Puerto Rican built heritage. Even in recent years, the effects of climate change have increased the intensity of these phenomena. Besides all the havoc, the recurrence of these events threatens the conservation of built heritage. However, climate change is not the sole risk factor for historic properties. Factors such as planning and preservation policy, urban development, and financial stability further exacerbate the vulnerability of historic buildings in Puerto Rico. As a potential step forward, vulnerability assessments are a proper tool to understand the vulnerability of historic sites from climate change vis-à-vis these external factors. Vulnerability assessments (VAs) generally allow exploring how ecosystems, communities, and historic properties are vulnerable to a changing climate. In the long-term process, VAs help identify potential mitigation and adaptation measures that contribute to decreasing vulnerability and protecting resources for long-term resiliency. Nevertheless, most of these existing tools focus on a particular historic resource and its specific conditions. This approach complicates the possibility of applying a protocol on a larger scale to other historic sites and resources because it overlooks the socioeconomic, cultural, and political histories, decisions, and processes that can aggravate the vulnerability of an overall region.

Considering the strengths and limitations of the existing heritage-focused tools, this paper proposes an alternative and experimental framework for VAs that addresses how general external factors beyond the particularities of a specific historic site can further influence the vulnerability of historic properties of an overall region. The methodological alternative is based on a multidisciplinary analysis of the geographical and historical complexities of the Central Aguirre Historic District in the southeastern municipality of Salinas in Puerto Rico, a former sugar mill company town that functioned from 1899 to 1990. A set of overarching questions about Puerto Rican history and the historic district’s conditions led to the development of the alternative VA protocol, composed of different indicators and criteria that range from policy, economy, conditions, and social issues. This proposal facilitates the calculation of the climatic vulnerability of Puerto Rican built heritage in general, quantifying the vulnerability of historic properties vis-à-vis environmental, political, sociocultural, and historical conditions in the archipelago. An applied protocol test with twenty properties out of the over four hundred properties of the historic district demonstrated how varied circumstances (such as ownership, current conditions, materials, and use of incentives) can sway the vulnerability of historic properties despite exposure to climatic risks. In the end, this result captures how the proposed framework can respond to the environmental and historical particularities of the archipelago when trying to understand the vulnerability of historic properties regardless of their location.

Esteemed American horticulturist and author of The Architecture of Country Houses, A.J. Downing played a pivotal role in the emergence of the American Picturesque movement of the mid-19th century. His ideals are expressed in the minutiae of material usage and finishes as well as in the pattern books that resulted from his influence. Over time, his work has shaped scholars’ understanding of the architectural colors of the period. Despite A.J. Downing’s well-documented influence on the American Picturesque movement, little empirical research has been conducted on the actual use of color in architecture from this period. Most existing studies are unpublished and largely inaccessible, creating a gap in our understanding of how Downing’s theories were applied in practice. Ivy Lodge, a key example of mid-19th-century Italianate architecture in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood, offers a rare opportunity to analyze original finishes that have remained largely intact. By examining the paint layers and comparing them with Downing’s pattern book prescriptions, this study not only challenges prevailing assumptions about his influence but also provides crucial insight into the material culture of the American Picturesque. The findings contribute to the field of architectural conservation by offering new data on historic color practices, helping to refine our understanding of 19th-century American aesthetics and their practical applications. Using cross-sectional and polarizing light microscopy to analyze paint samples, the paper illuminates the chosen color palette. It offers perspective on the actual influence of pattern books and Downing’s specific prescriptions for color during the American Picturesque Movement.

The analysis of Ivy Lodge's paint layers reveals a dominant early finish of white lead-based paint rather than the anticipated earthen tones displayed in Downing’s pattern books. Later layers introduced colors like gray, brown, and green, aligning with the period's broader palette. Differences in stratigraphy among windows and exterior details suggest varying approaches to trim and cornice paint, with some dark gray paints appearing in isolated areas. These findings challenge the assumption that Ivy Lodge's color scheme followed A.J. Downing’s recommendations for the American Picturesque Movement. While Downing advocated for natural tints and rejected white exteriors, Ivy Lodge's white-painted trim more closely aligns with earlier Colonial and Georgian aesthetics, suggesting that the homeowners may have blended Downing’s ideals with prior influences. Furthermore, the later introduction of Picturesque colors in the 1870s, post-Downing era, implies that his influence may have expanded over time rather than being immediately adopted. This study broadens our understanding of mid-19th-century American architectural finishes, questioning the extent of Downing’s impact on contemporary color choices.

Originally constructed in 1879, the Conservatory of Flowers in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California is a rare example of the wood-and-glass conservatory in the late Victorian style constructed using early techniques of mass production and assembly of simple glass units. Following extensive wood decay and significant windstorm damage, the building underwent extensive restoration and structural upgrades from 1998 to 2002.

Preserving and maintaining an active greenhouse is no easy task, and working around plants that cannot be moved or environmental conditions that cannot be drastically altered calls for careful planning and thorough research and material testing, even for the simplest tasks, such as painting. This presentation aims to review some of the unique challenges that we have come across during our three decades of work at the Conservatory of Flowers and the rigorous planning and research we had to conduct to extend the maintenance window of the building while having minimal impact on its unique aesthetic and the collection of rare and exotic plants. Two projects we aim to discuss are the replacement of failed glazing putty with silicone extrusions and surface preparation and painting mock-ups in the Conservatory’s Aquatic Plants gallery. They provided opportunities to consider and evaluate alternate solutions for longevity, durability, and appropriateness to the unique environment of the Conservatory of Flowers.

Join our second annual examination of practice panel at the 2025 Meeting. This year, we will dive into the topic of laser cleaning on masonry to look at the development and efficacy of treatments both past and current. Panelists will introduce the mechanics of laser ablation before moving into a Q+A session meant to spark conversation on the successes and limitations of this approach for cleaning masonry materials. This is intended to be a collaborative event, gathering colleagues and their valuable insights from all specialty groups. We hope to see you there!