Preservation FAQ: Portico Shoring Posts

This image shows a shoring post in the basement below the portico. There are ten of these posts in the basement, two below each of five concrete beams that currently support the structure above. Recommended by engineer Craig Bennett following a structural assessment, these shoring posts have been used to lift the structure 1/10th of one millimeter in order to stabilize the portico until a permanent structural solution can be put in place.

Click here to learn more about our current work to stabilize Drayton Hall’s portico.

Do you have a question for our preservation department? Please comment below and your question could be featured in a future blog post!

Throwback Thursday: 2007 Preservation Work in the Withdrawing Room

Here’s a Throwback Thursday photo from 2007 showing preservation specialist Paul Woodward cleaning debris behind the entablature while it was being repaired in the withdrawing room.

Preservation FAQ: Why is There a Stack of Columns in the Basement?

In celebration of Preservation Month, we are posting a series of preservation-related frequently asked questions. Do you have a question for our preservation department? Please comment below and your question could be featured in a future blog post!

It is a common occurrence to have a visitor ask “What were these for?” as they point to the stack of column pieces in the raised basement; possibly, the same question has been asked by visitors to Drayton Hall since the time those limestone pieces were placed in their current location.

On May 2, 1815, Charles Drayton (1742-1820) wrote in his journal that one of the portico columns was “in jeopardy,” and was to be taken down. Four days later, he wrote, “Schnirle came [with] 26 fellows and took the pillar down safe and cleverly.” The stack of limestone columns in the cellar of Drayton Hall could be the original stone pillars discussed in Drayton’s journal.

The first known account to record the current placement of the stone fragments reads, “In one of the cellars are to be seen a number of marble columns lying on the ground just as they came from England.” Written by Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840-1894), who later became a noted American novelist and short story writer, and published in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine December 1875 issue.

In 2005-2006, Edward Chappell, architectural historian at Colonial Williamsburg, came to Drayton Hall to conduct a series of investigations of Drayton Hall. Chappell, along with Drayton Hall staff, suggested that the columns in the basement were in fact the original columns of the portico. They compared the overall heights of the limestone pieces assembled which measure to roughly 10’ 5” in height, a similar height to the columns currently in the portico. Both sets of columns follow the suggested proportions of Palladio’s “Dorick Order.” Evidence continues to be uncovered to support and illustrate Chappell’s hypothesis that indeed the columns were replaced, with the originals stacked, at some point, in the basement.

While this answers the common question of “What were these for?,” it often brings about a follow-up question, “Why did Charles Drayton keep the old columns?” There’s always something to learn and discover at Drayton Hall!

To learn more about Drayton Hall’s iconic portico and the original columns, read Trish Smith’s article on the Preservation Leadership Forum’s blog here.

Preservation FAQ: Is the Window Glass at Drayton Hall Original?

In celebration of Preservation Month, we are posting a series of preservation-related frequently asked questions. Do you have a question for our preservation department? Please comment below and your question could be featured in a future blog post!

Is the window glass at Drayton Hall original? In a word—no—none of it is original. Changes in window forms during the 18th and 19th century coupled with evidence of glass loss indicate that none of the glass is original, and only half of it is potentially historic. The most definitive reason that the window glass cannot be original to Drayton Hall is that the current sashes are from the 19th century. There are several clues that tell us this, including that the muntin profiles are much more delicate than is typical of a Georgian muntin, which tends to be very wide and flat.

So, we’ve established that the glass is not original, but is any of it historic? We know from archival evidence that much of Drayton Hall’s window glass was replaced after Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Additionally, there are large quantities of window glass that have been found during archaeological excavations, and our architectural fragment collection contains nearly 100 broken panes. If you walk around th
e house, you will see that approximately half of the panes appear to be new, while the rest have imperfections that would seem to indicate that they are older. The trouble with these observations is that they can be misleading. While we now make it a point to replace broken panes with clearly new glass in order to avoid confusion about what is new and what is old, this has not always been our practice. Until recently, it was not uncommon for broken panes to be replaced with new glass made to look old.

By the numbers, 51% of Drayton Hall’s window panes appear to be older, although many of them may be reproductions of historic glass. So, it’s hard to definitively say how much of the glass is historic. What is certain, however, is that none of the glass is original to the house.

 

Finding Answers at Drayton Hall Through Dendrochronology

Small core samples from Drayton Hall’s attic were analyzed to help determine the age of the house. Photo courtesy of The Post & Courier.

A recent article in The Post & Courier shows how dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, gives insight into how long it took to build Drayton Hall. Michael Worthington of Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory removed core samples from the main house’s attic and carefully studied the width of the series of rings, matching them to 18th-century weather records. Worthington’s findings show us that it would have taken approximately a decade for the main house to be completed. 

Click here to read the article. 

Throwback Thursday: Preservation Month Edition

Does anyone remember the bridge on the second floor during the 1990s? It was there for a decade while preservationists worked on the floor of the upper great hall and the ceiling below.

Preservation FAQ: Iron Cramps and Their Use at Drayton Hall

During tours of the main house, visitors regularly ask, “What are those metal bars in the steps?”

The cramps, made of iron and shaped like staples, were used to join the stones together in the construction of the staircases at Drayton Hall.

The renowned architectural historian Carl Lounsbury defined cramps in An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape as: “iron staple[s] used to hold two adjoining pieces of masonry together to prevent them from slipping. An iron bar with its two ends turned at right angles, a cramp is generally set in a bed of mortar or lead into holes cut into the stone. They are used in stone cornices, chimney pieces, wall coping, and steps.”

While some of the cramps were possibly replaced and certainly reinstalled by preservationists, cramps were used in the original construction of Drayton Hall’s masonry staircases.

Do you have a question for our preservation department? Please comment below and your question could be featured in a future blog post!

Conserving Drayton Hall’s Iconic Portico

This week, Drayton Hall’s Curator of Historic Architectural Resources Trish Smith posted an article on the Preservation Leadership Forum’s blog. Her article highlights the preservation work being done on Drayton Hall’s iconic portico. Below is an excerpt from her article. 

Drayton Hall, a National Trust Historic site in Charleston, S.C., is widely considered the earliest and finest example of Palladian architecture in the United States. Chief among Drayton Hall’s character-defining features is its two-story, iconic portico which projects from, and recedes into, the house. A recent structural assessment of the portico has brought to light important information about the construction and subsequent alterations to this well-known feature.

Since 1974, several interventions have been made to stabilize and conserve the portico, which documentary evidence tells us has been plagued with structural issues almost since its initial construction more than 250 years ago. On May 2, 1815, Charles Drayton (1742-1820) wrote in his journal that one of the portico columns was “in jeopardy,” and was to be taken down. Four days later, he wrote, “Schnirle came [with] 26 fellows and took the pillar down safe and cleverly.” A stack of limestone columns in the cellar of Drayton Hall may be what remains of the original stone pillars discussed in Drayton’s diary. Architectural historians have long speculated about other alterations made to the portico….Click here to read the full article.