Granite & Marble for Architectural Exteriors & Monuments

Philadelphia City Hall  by Kelly Streeter, Photos by Jon Reis

During the week of December 1st, Vertical Access Technicians Kent Diebolt, James Banta, Mike Gilbert, Tom Zajicek and Star Atkeson conducted a close visual inspection of the 8 bronze sculptures high on the tower of this 1901 building.  Built in the Second Empire Mode of French Renaissance Revival architectural style, Philadelphia City Hall is the nations largest municipal building (even larger than the US Capitol Building).  Completed in 1901, construction spanned 30 years and therefore boasts a long list of architects in charge, including John MacArthur Jr, who won the original design competition, John Ord and W. Bleddyn Powell.  

The Vertical Access sculpture inspection, completed in collaboration with the City of Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture and Keast and Hood Co, concentrated on eight bronze principal sculptures designed by Alexander Milne Calder.  The Vertical Access team provided hand-sketched drawings and photographs of the sculptures and obtained samples of sculpture material including surface patination, soiling and fill materials.  The team also opened access panels and climbed inside the sculptures and used the See Snake and live-feed video to assist the conservation efforts.

The VA team also inspected the steel and cast iron cladding on the clock tower.  The intent was to ascertain the condition of the cladding to identify possible sources of occasional water infiltration into the tower.  The condition of the cladding panels, joints, fasteners and paint were all noted on elevations; digital still and video photography were also taken to document conditions found.

View the project profile on our website.

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Recently, Vertical Access has been approached by its clients to add to its suite of services the installation of safety netting to structures as a temporary stabilization measure. 

In August of 2003, Vertical Access technicians Mike Gilbert, James Banta, and Donn Hewes installed netting over the slate tower roofs at 5 Beekman Street as a temporary public safety measure.  The client, Newmark Realty, was concerned about falling slate tiles.  The team used polyester debris netting supplied by Leading Edge Safety Systems, a Deep River, CT company specializing in safety netting .

When approached to install netting in conjunction with an inspection project at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City, Vertical Access again contacted Leading Edge Safety Systems, and learned more about their netting.  Their patented shrinking net is constructed of polymer-modified fibers that shrink when wetted with water.  John Rexroad and Herve Rivard of Leading Edge Safety Systems met with the Vertical Access team to help choose the appropriate products for the project.  

The investigation, completed in September allowed the Vertical Access team to establish the existing conditions and measure the building.  In October, the netting was secured to the terra cotta gargoyles and bandcourse using 5/8-inch diameter shrinking rope (#20S Ultimate Shrinking Spalling Net with Debris Liner attached, as per technical specification).  After placement the netting was wetted and the net conformed, as planned, to the 3-D terra cotta, allowing for a secure fit, without hours of adjustment or worries about stretching.  For more information on Vertical Access netting installation, see the debris net or the shrinking net technical highlights on our website. 

Kelly Streeter 

Kelly received passed her Professional Engineering exam in October.  In January she took a five-day Welding Inspection seminar offered by American Welding Society and took the Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) exam.  

Stardust Atkeson

Stardust Atkeson recently had the opportunity to help create a Sol LeWitt wall drawing with a crew of artists at The Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, New York. The museum (designed by Edward Larabee Barnes) is having a unique exhibition of Sol LeWitt's work including new sculptures; "Domes," a gallery of paintings on paper and the site specific wall drawing that Stardust was able to work on. The show closes on April 24 2004. After which the wall drawing will be painted over.

The wall drawing took two weeks to complete and consisted of a lot of ladder climbing, masking areas off with drafting tape and paper and painting six coats of blue, green, red, orange, and purple acrylic paint on all four walls. The end result was a vibrant mural that looked like multi-colored bands that wound around the room on a background of blue. The best part of the project was meeting and working with eight interesting artists.