The restoration of the large exterior window bay at Victoria Mansion in Portland called for hand-carving and installing blocks of brownstone weighing as much as 13,000 pounds.
The 1860 building became a museum in the 1940s and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
The overall restoration was recently among nine rehabilitation projects and a preservation advocate to be recognized by Yarmouth nonprofit Maine Preservation.
3D scanning
Stone & Lime Historic Restoration Services — a North Brookfield, Mass., contractor that specializes in renovation of historic structures — tackled a facade that hadn’t been touched in 75 years. Prolonged exposure to the elements stripped away the original details.
The restoration searched extensively for historically accurate materials to replace damaged sections.
Innovative approaches to capture lost details of the facade included 3D scanning and printing to recreate the building ornaments that had disappeared after years of exposure.
Hand-carving
The company sourced Portland, Conn., brownstone, a material no longer quarried and nearly impossible to find. The replacement units were hand-carved by Granite Importers Inc., an architectural stone manufacturing business in Barre, Vt., that’s home of one of the largest granite quarries in the world, according to its website. Granite Importers matched the original designs.
With some pieces weighing as much as 13,000 pounds, installation required a mix of manpower, machinery and logistical planning to re-install them.
Founded in 2004, Stone & Lime has worked on historic masonry projects from Massachusetts to Texas. Notable projects include Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the stabilization of Plymouth Rock.
