Monumental restoration

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 17, 1998 | by Bill Reiter

For the next two years, the Washington Monument will be encased in a stylish skein of scaffolding designed with a nod toward aesthetics as well as engineering.

Renovating the exterior of the Washington Monument began modestly enough when the first workers arrived on The Mall this summer. Their job: to surround the 555-foot-tall obelisk with artistic blue scaffolding that will allow restorers to replace the mortar connecting its 36,000 marble and granite blocks.

Visitors still will be able to travel to the top observation deck of the 144-year-old structure during the construction. About 850,000 visitors ride to the top of the monument annually, according to the National Park Service, or NPS.

"There are a few construction details that might require it to be shut down for a short time, but we expect it to remain open throughout most of the work" says Denis Galvin, deputy director of the NPS. The Target department-store chain of Minneapolis will pay for the $5 million restoration but will not display its logo on the monument during the restoration.

The monument will be surrounded by blue aluminum scaffolding until work is finished in 2000. According to the 1986 Guinness Book of Records, the scaffolding surrounding the Statue of Liberty during its restoration 12 years ago was the largest of its kind ever built. NPS officials believe the scaffolding on the Washington Monument will be the tallest ever built. ,

"What we wanted to do was give tourists a sense of a second monument, for them to see something they wouldn't have seen if they just came and saw the monument," says architect Michael Graves, design adviser for the restoration project. At night, you'll see the monument lit up on the inside and by the lights on the scaffolds. It'll create a kind of magical glow that is surreal."

The exterior renovations will focus on replacing mortar -- the first time since 1935 -- and repairing cracked and chipped stones, repointing exterior and interior joints and cleaning the stones. The mortar will be the same sand-and-cement mix used when construction began on July 4, 1848. The famous obelisk was built to honor George Washington.

Construction crews already have completed interior work on the elevator system and upgrades on the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems. The observation levels at the 490- and 500-foot levels of the monument will be refurbished and a glass elevator and new education exhibits will be added starting in 1999.

Grunley-Walsh Joint Venture of Rockville, Md., will do the restoration. The company has worked on the Statue of Liberty, the FDR memorial, the Ariel Rios Federal Building and the Smithsonian Institution. Workers will use rotary hand saws to cut quarter-inch-deep incisions in the mortar and chipping hammers and small tools to remove the mortar without damaging the stones, said Kate Beysselance, Grunley-Walsh project manager.

"One of the things we can do with this restoration project is not only educate children about architecture and George Washington, but about restoration as well, says Graves.