EverGreene is getting started on the Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s restoration project. Our first task is to re- hang the suspended ornamental plaster ceiling for seismic upgrades. This requires us to lay out, and then drill attachment points for the seismic wires on both the exterior dome as well as in the interior. Turnbuckles help us to equalize the tension over the entire suspended ceiling. Nick and Kai took some pictures of their work…

Connecting the cables to the suspended dome

Tightening the tension of the wire with a turnbuckle

Drilling through the concrete dome to set new anchoring points

Nick on top of the temple

EverGreene has spent the past five months stripping paint coatings and repairing plaster cracks and uneven surfaces in the incredibly elaborate lobby of an historic residential building on Central Park West. The lobby was repainted multiple times since it was built in 1908 — in our historic paint analysis we discovered the original scheme (glazing with gold tipping) underneath as many as 25 coatings! The freshly redecorated space will include glazing with a contemporary twist on the original scheme.

Preparing the surface for decorative painting

Making crisp molding profiles

Stripped ceiling awaiting painting and glazing

EverGreene plasterers finishing the ornate surfaces

EverGreene was contracted to conserve the gilded eagle located in the reference room of the Morristown Library. The eagle dates back to the Morristown Armory: when the Armory burned down in 1920, the eagle was the single architectural element to survive, and was subsequently moved to the library, where it stands now.

Below are a few shots of EverGreene’s Niko and Kazuko, as they patinate the eagle in its final phase of conservation.

The condition of the eagle before restoration

Here, the eagle has already been re- gilded, and they have begun to apply glaze

Kazuko glazing

Niko and Kazuko at work...

EverGreene is wrapping up a major milestone at the New York State Capitol: we’re putting the finishing touches on the 5th floor level of the NY State Assembly staircase. EverGreene had completed the lower areas several years ago, so we were thrilled to be able to come back and finish the space. First, Mike Fomin and his crew of straight painters stripped away all of the old paint campaigns, then we cut stencils in the New York studio, and finally painted them onsite. The decorative painting crew, with Terry Brackenbury, Dana Brackenbury, Heidi Xu, John Coles, and Virginia Montayne, worked for six weeks to repaint the original, historical stencil pattern.

EverGreene craftsmen painting the stencils

A detail of the stencils. EverGreene also painted the color details on the limestone cornice

Terry Brackenbury putting the finishing touches on a stencil

The "floor" pictured here is actually a scaffold, over 50 feet off the ground

EverGreene opened its doors to Open House New York this year. Visitors were given tours through the design studio, paint studio, and plaster shops. Here are a few pics…

Design studio before the rush

Emily giving a tour

Bill and Eugene giving a tour

The studio, with a tour going on in the back

EverGreene was commissioned to paint the set for the San Jose Opera’s production of Mozart’s Idomeneo, which opened last week. The set, conceived by set designer Steven C. Kemp, was inspired by wall paintings excavated from the ancient Minoan city Akrotiri on the island of Thera (now Santorini).
In reviews of the opera, critics made repeated note of the stage design! The review from the San Francisco Chronicle states “the evening’s most striking aspect was the physical production,” and the San Jose Mercury News says “Throughout the three acts of the opera there are spectacular sets, paintings and objects which are authentically in the character of bronze age Crete.”

Jeff, Bill, Sophia, and Boris go over designs in the studio

One wall of the set, in progress in the studio

Original "Landscape of Springtime" fresco from the city of Akritori

Garden designs (in progress) based on original Minoan wall paintings

The stage set, in San Jose

EverGreene is putting the finishing touches on the National Park Service’s Gateway National Recreation Area, Floyd Bennett Field. We’ve replicated the original murals and stenciling in the Ryan Center (also known as the Administration Building). Floyd Bennett Field was New York’s first municipal airport, opened in 1931. Along with replicating the transportation murals and the decorative stenciling, EverGreene restored ornate plaster throughout the interior.
Jeff Greene took a few photos of Oskar and Niko installing the stencils on a visit to the site this morning.

Oskar and Niko on the scaffold

The view from below

The studio is painting some absolutely wonderful murals for a new church, the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, in Westerville, OH. The church is in the byzantine- inspired style, and EverGreene was asked to design and paint new murals and decoration throughout the sanctuary.

Zinni painting garden imagery on a gold leaf panel

Tiger painting garden imagery on gold leaf panels

Viktor Painting

Stencils

Forrest Filler, Conservation Technician:

Over the past several years I’ve had an exciting time conserving a series of tile mosaics at El Museo del Barrio located at 1230 5^th Avenue (104^th Street); the project itself was undertaken by a collaborative team of experts in different conservation and related fields.  I had the pleasure of being part of the interdisciplinary team during this uniquely challenging project.  We started the project in the fall of 2008 during the renovation of the building and I’ve just about concluded our treatment on site.  EverGreene was invited to help stabilize, partially conserve, remove, re-install, and complete the conservation of a series of twenty-three William Grueby mosaic mural panels by the C. Pardee Works that were installed in 1924.  At that time, the building (which was built in 1922) housed the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.  Since 1977, the building has housed the Boys and Girls Harbor School, various tenants, and El Museo del Barrio.

I assisted throughout the conservation treatments from the initial stabilization of loose tiles, the careful cleaning of surface soiling, the reattachment of broken tiles, the infilling of missing tiles, to the final inpainting of losses.

Overall, it was a tremendous success; the panels are currently installed on the 104^th Street lobby (originally they were installed on the 5^th Avenue lobby) displayed in a historically appropriate fashion.  I hope you’ll have a chance to visit the museum!