The Rotunda at the University of Virginia

Restoring the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village

The University of Virginia is the only US university with a World Heritage designation, it's conservation is of the utmost importance and is currently undergoing the largest restoration campaign in decades. Matt Wolf and his team from Centennial Preservation are currently working on the repointing and window repairs for the Rotunda at Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village.

Mortar studies showed the original mortar was made with hydraulic lime and now the team is repointing using a customized Ecologic Mortar specifically for this project.

To learn more about historic masonry restoration contact LimeWorks.us at 215.536.6706 or visit http://www.limeworks.us

Filmed by Dan Gayle http://newplanetstudios.com
and Sean K Maxwell http://www.seankmaxwell.com

Special thanks to Matt Wolf of Centennial Preservation Group http://centennialpreservation.com and the University of Virginia.


Transcript:
I think taking your time is an important aspect of historic preservation, having the knowledge that these buildings have been here for a hundred plus, two hundred years. It's important to realize that we don't need to make a ten second decision on a building that's been here that long and will be here that long again if we take care of it. Taking your time to do things correctly, to understand what it is that was done in the past and what it is that we're doing now and how it going to affect the building is critical to do historic preservation well.

On this project we're doing masonry restoration and window restoration so we've actually cleaned the entire Rotunda. The top level, the attic level is getting fully repointed and then there's some spot repointing throughout the remainder of the elevations, and then we're going to rebuild the entire water table and do some spot brick replacement and some brick patching as well.

Masonry is obviously the component of a building that's timeless. If it's properly cared for it's going to last forever and we've used the hydraulic lime, natural hydraulic lime on a number of projects. We only use lime mortars because lime mortars were what the buildings were originally built with and it's really important that the wall can breathe and the wall is able to move freely and to protect the masonry.

Historic masonry preservation, my thoughts would echo my thoughts on historic preservation in general. It's important, it gives people a sense of place which in this day in age whenever everything's becoming Walmart and McDonald's, I think it's important to maintain a sense of place and a sense of our history. There's an ambiance when you walk onto this campus that you can just feel it when you start to walk around here and you really sense the history. And I think that's important. It lets us think about where we've come from which affects where we're going as well.

Our lead mason is one of those unique masons who was humble enough that he wanted to learn and he was open minded and was willing to learn and really embrace lime mortars, working on historic buildings with appropriate materials. There's no reason that when using good quality materials and installing them properly that those mortar joints won't be good for a hundred plus years. And that's the kind of repair we plan to make.

I should never see the mortar that we've put in need to be replaced. I should be long gone!

I think the people at the University of Virginia and the community understand what they have here. They understand the importance. They understand how valuable it is and how important is is to preserve that heritage and I think that's an important part of historic preservation, being a cheerleader for it and really letting people understand what it is that we have. And I think, once you understand that, you're off to the right foot as far as preserving what's important.