Dedication and Ribbon Cutting of Landmark Building Today

Posted in Programs and Events on September 8 2010, by Plant Talk

Lillian and Amy Goldman Stone Mill Opens after $11 Million Restoration

After two years of meticulous restoration, the Stone Mill, one of New York City’s most picturesque extant pre-Civil War industrial buildings, reopens with a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Built in 1840, the Stone Mill was designated a New York City Landmark in 1966 and a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

The landscape around the Mill was also restored, including an intricate design that treats stormwater runoff into the Bronx River and utilizes native species in the extensive plantings. The Stone Mill precinct is one of the largest, most varied historic landscapes in New York City and the Lower Hudson Valley. Comprising 100 acres, it includes three mid-19th-century buildings; a camel-back bridge; eight gardens and collections, several from the first half of the 20th century; the ancient Native Forest; and the Bronx River and gorge, all set within the Garden’s 250-acre National Historic Landmark site.

The Stone Mill is available for community meetings, conferences, and social gatherings, and it provides much-needed office space for Horticulture curators. It was restored with the generous support of The Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust and The Amy P. Goldman Foundation. Major support was also received from The City of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor; Kate D. Levin, Commissioner, Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional funding was received from Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Nolen; New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation; New York State, Office of the Attorney General and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Bronx River Watershed Initiative; and The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

On Saturdays and Sundays, September 11 & 12 and 18 & 19, weekend programming, in collaboration with The New York Landmarks Conservancy, will feature guided tours of the restored Stone Mill, adjacent millrace and Bronx River, and surrounding landmarks, gardens, and collections.

The landmark’s historic character has been reclaimed through extensive exterior restoration. The building’s interior partitions from the 1940s and 50s, the kitchen, and the bathrooms were removed revealing the rarely seen framing members, masonry floor supports, brick work, and millrace entry into the building dating from the mid-1800s. Many of these original building elements are exposed and integrated into the interior design. While resuming its historic character, the landmark has also acquired a state-of-the-art infrastructure and modern building systems.

Elements of the exterior restoration include:
• Cleaning all the façade’s fieldstone—schist—and brick walls with a freshwater spray; adding appropriate gutters and leaders; rebuilding the chimneys; removing the mechanical housings from the south façade and concentrating them on the less visible north side in a new structure sheathed in individually selected, hand-cut stones chosen to match the field stone in the 1840 façade.

• Replacing a patchwork of cement-based mortars with a lime mortar used in the original construction; raking and recessing the mortar during careful application to give visual prominence to the field stones. Determining the composition of the original mortar required tunneling deep into the foot-thick walls and extracting, analyzing, and replicating the original lime and sand mortar. Lime mortar mixes, used by the Romans, were typical of the pre-Civil War era but were discontinued in the late 1800s. In appearance, the original 1840 mortar was raked so the stones were eye-catching. The restoration used the same technique to recess the mortar, thus allowing the stones to draw the observer’s eye.

• Replacing the asphalt roof with cedar shingles. More than a century ago, cedar shingles, the original roofing material, gave way to a series of less expensive asphalt roofs. Garden architects modified the roof design to allow the roof to breathe and to insure the restoration was historically accurate and met the required LEED standard. Engineers designed all mechanical and duct work servicing the kitchen, restrooms, and HVAC to be routed through the two chimneys, thus eliminating the need for any vents on the roof.

• Restoring the original fenestration to the entire building. Some windows and doors had been altered or eliminated. The restoration re-established the original fenestration—window arrangement—and the placement of doors. In addition to being fundamental to a faithful building restoration, authentic fenestration is especially striking on the south façade in views from the Stone Bridge and in views from inside the Stone Mill onto the hillside of native plants, with the bridge and river in the distance.

• Installing period windows and doors. No Stone Mill window frame is perfectly square, no two frames are exactly the same, and the objectives of historical accuracy conflicted with requirements for LEED certification. Extensive research and some trial-and-error produced a 12-over-12 double-hung window—interior trim of poplar, sashes of Western pine, and exterior trim of Spanish cedar—handcrafted using custom-made knives and following a template made for each window opening. The paint color for the trim was chosen to match a color typical of the mid-19th-century industrial buildings.

Since thermal storm windows are required to meet the LEED standard but their appearance from the outside would have been visually unacceptable and historically inaccurate, the storm windows are placed on the interior side of the 12-over-12 sashes.

Elements of the interior restoration include:
• Removing false ceilings and other obstructions to reveal framing members, masonry floor supports, and the brick work of the exterior walls;

• Replacing floors with well-aged red and white oak secured from old mils and barns, milled lightly to enhance the highlights but retain the aged character, and finished with low volatile organic compound to met LEED certification;

• Designing and constructing in the southwest corner an oak stairway necessary to meet the building code requirement for egress and suitable to create views from the south onto the hillside and the stone bridge.

• Eliminating a boarded-up window and constructing a bride’s room that replaces a storeroom and offers the Mill’s finest view of the stone bridge.

Restorations achieve a standard as established by the Secretary of the Interior. This project attains the highest standard, “restoration,” on the exterior and the second highest standard, “rehabilitation,” on the interior. While the restoration takes the exterior back to the 19th century, modern technology is applied to create a LEED-certified structure that meets the Silver standard.