Diary of a preservation contractor 14-Nov-2011
Today's travels took me north into the Adirondacks, visiting our prior clients at the Ticonderoga Historical Society. Their building houses a museum, an art gallery, and priceless artifacts, antiques, and local history treasures. The last time we were there in May of 2006, work was limited to plaster restoration. Now water is getting inside, threatening to ruin our plaster work and the countless treasures mentioned. As a courtesy, an abbreviated conditions assessment was prepared so funding can be sought. Estimates of cost have been withheld out of courtesy to the client.
BUILDING CONDITIONS ASSESSMENT
Specific to roofing, flashing details and gutter linings
Ticonderoga Historical Society
Hancock House
6 Moses Circle
Ticonderoga, NY 12883
14 November 2011
CONTEXT
The Hancock House is an historic structure in Ticonderoga, New York. It is a replica of the Hancock Manor on Boston's Beacon Hill that was the residence of Thomas Hancock, the uncle of John Hancock. The Hancock House was built by philanthropist Horace A. Moses for the New York State Historical Association as a repository for "American Traditions in History and the Fine Arts." The Association used it as its "Headquarters House" until after World War II. Built in 1925, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places (reference no. 88002197) on November 15, 1988.
HISTORY
Born in Ticonderoga, Horace Augustus Moses became wealthy building and acquiring a number of paper mills that he combined to form the Strathmore Paper Company. As his wealth grew, he made a series of substantial donations to many Ticonderoga projects, among which were the Valley View Cemetery Chapel, the Liberty Monument, the Moses-Ludington Hospital, the Community Building, and the Hancock House; with the last of these, he accomplished an early lifetime ambition— to establish a museum with a library that would make Ticonderoga a focal point for public interest in the region's history.
The Hancock House Museum and Research Library was established in 1926. The Ticonderoga Historical Society today manages the building as a regional museum and reference library. There are exhibits throughout the Hancock House. The library houses a large collection of regional material on civic, social and economic matters and has one of the largest collections of genealogical resource materials in the region.
STRUCTURE
The Hancock Manor House was demolished in 1863 to make room for an expansion of the Massachusetts State House. The razing of the Hancock House in Boston is often viewed as a predicate offense that spurred the organization of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (present day Historic New England.) The main hall and stairway and the two rooms to the right of the hall are exact duplicates of those in the original house. Architects of the extant structure in Ticonderoga were M.H. Westhoff and Edward F. Minor.
While the original house was built of Weymouth (Massachusetts) granite, the house in Ticonderoga was built with Corinthian granite (Washington County, NY), from drawings made by John Sturgis before the original house was destroyed. The gambrel roof is a blend of Vermont (green, gray and purple) and New York (red) roofing slates. Approximately twelve (12) slates are broken; none are completely missing. The six dormer roofs, gutter linings, conductor pipes, vents, and flashing details are all red copper. Save for part of the counter-flashing on the four chimneys and the gutter linings (and conductor pipes), the copper all appears to be original to the construction of the building.
WATER INFILTRATION
This firm was contacted on November 11, 2011, in reference to water damage found in the second and third floors of the Hancock House. On November 14, 2011, the roofing, gutters, attic, second and third floors were inspected. Water damage to plaster was found in the third floor locations corresponding with chimney and balustrade flashing details, above. At the rear, center dormer, it appears that valley flashing details are failing. This is especially problematic because the standing-seam copper, barrel-style dormer roof ties into this detail. The valley cannot be replaced without “undoing” the brittle copper roofing, necessitating a larger project. Additionally, a failure on the gutter lining has allowed a large amount of water into a second story museum space causing extensive damage to the plaster molding profiles of the cornice, including the loss of entire modillions.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The copper flashings and roofing, which are original to the roof’s construction, have been in place for over eighty-five years. Copper has a service life of eighty to one hundred years, and this copper is failing. When preserving the heritage of our built environment, it is critical that we preserve the historic fabric of a structure. According to the ‘Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Illustrated Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, and Reconstructing Historic Buildings,’ when an element has failed and must be replaced, replacement materials must be in kind when still available. Our recommendation is for the total replacement of the copper flashing details, vents and dormer roofs. Also, of critical importance, the broken solder joints in the gutter linings must be repaired to prevent further internal damage. 