Brownstone Restoration Brownstone was a wildly popular exterior material for houses for several decades in the 19th century but proved susceptible to acid rain and other pollutants in the 20th. Shown here is a detail of the Morse-Libby Mansion, better known as the Victoria Mansion, completed in 1860 in Portland, ME and opened as a museum in the 1940’s. Several approaches to brownstone restoration have been undertaken on the exterior of the mansion.
victoriamansion.org At right is an unrestored area of carved brownstone showing the effects of acid rain erosion and delamination. At left is restoration work from the 1980’s, when the eroded stone entry porch was removed and replaced with a mahogany replica with a sand-painted finish to resemble stone. This approach had been used for the original back porch of the house when it was built, as a cost-savings measure. Above, restoration work on the tower in the early 2000’s involved replacement in-kind with new brownstone and reattachment of loose carved elements.
Restoration work on this building is used as an example in Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners.
The book will be released tomorrow (!) and is now available for pre-order on the Barnes & Noble , Target, Powell’s Books, and Walmart websites and on and Amazon. Reserve your copy today! http://ow.ly/Os4H50xvfb6
Ask your local bookstore to contact their W.W. Norton rep to order copies.
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