By Lincoln Anderson
“The overall approach is really to treat the arch as an important historical object,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, describing the renovation of the Washington Sq. Arch, which is soon due to be finished.
“We can’t and didn’t overly intervene. The statues aren’t going to look brand new. We filled in the fissures, but didn’t build up the faces.”
Speaking last week, Benepe explained some of the finer points of the renovation, which cost $3 million.
Twenty-nine of the rosettes (rose-like ornaments) under the arch’s vault have been replaced with new cast-stone rosettes made from a casting of stone dust.
There was also extensive stone consolidation work done, where a substance is injected into the arch’s marble to stabilize it.
“Marble is particularly subject to sugaring,” Benepe noted, referring to how old marble deteriorates and becomes powder-like.
Worn or vandalized parts of the arch were fixed using “Dutchman’s repairs,” in which a piece of marble is carved to replace the damaged area.
Although the Tuckahoe marble quarry is closed, the Parks Department lucked out when excavation for phone line work by the Tuckahoe train station uncovered a marble vein, from which they were able to extract enough for the needed repairs.
On the other hand, Georgia marble was used to fix the two Washington statues, which are not made of Tuckahoe.
Although, the worn faces of the two George Washington statues — Washington at war as general and Washington at peace as president — won’t be built back up to their approximate original height, laser scanning was done so they can be built up to their present state if they erode in the future.
One of the remaining projects is to set up a subterranean lighting system around the arch, which will beam out from behind vents.
“It will be a more dramatic lighting,” Benepe said, “and cover more of the arch. It’ll be a trench, rather than spotlights.”
Another challenge is building an arch endowment. Currently, Parks has raised $135,000 for the arch, and hopes to reach $600,000. The goal is to have a $30,000 annual fund. Hopefully, New York University, which has pledged $15,000 annually, will provide half of the $600,000, Benepe said.
Public fundraising will be a key part of the campaign, he noted, recalling how when the arch was first built there was a benefit concert at the Metropolitan Opera House with the Boston Symphony, underwritten by Steinway and Sons.
“It’s a great city landmark that’s getting a full restoration for the first time in many years,” Benepe said. “It was public fundraising that got it put up back in the 1880s.”
