November 6, 2024
Site visit with Kladia Bak and Ed Gerns, engineers from WJE, Ben Pear and Pete Flynn from Benjamin Pear Masonry, and Worth Bracken and Peter Talbot of the building committee. The purpose of this site visit was to review completed repointing work and ongoing cast-stone removal. The engineers also conducted a limited interior and exterior condition assessment of the church.
Our lead engineer, Josh Jaskowiak, will be returning from a brief paternity leave on November 14. In the meantime, we have been in the capable hands of Klaudia Bak and Camden Crittenden, whom Josh mentored on the project. Today (Nov. 6), Josh's own mentor, Ed Gerns, who is based in Chicago, visited the site. We are excited to have Ed's involvement in the project and look forward to his input.
It has been very interesting to see the progress in repointing over the past few weeks. From the mason's perspective, every masonry job is different and presents its own, specific demands. The mason has to get to know the physical qualities and design characteristics of the various stones, as well as their placement relative to each other along the plane of the wall, and the patterns their positioning creates for the eye (in the case of St. John's, these are largely rectalinear patterns). A good mason is thus doing much more than simply slathering mortar in existing joints: he or she is entering into a materials-and-design-based relationship with the structure that is at once humble, respectful, and assertive.
Ben started at the north chancel gable peak. That section already looked professional and accomplished, but as he proceeded down that wall and learned more about the church's masonry, he gained increasing command of his medium - the mortar - and the handling of his trowel. By the time he was working on repointing the facade he had really found his place with the materials and the spirit of the structure, and it has been rewarding to see the expertness of his and Pete's work, which enhances the church's beauty. In our site visit today, Ed Gerns (WJE) payed especially close attention to the repointing, turning to Ben and complimenting him strongly on it. This was especially marked since it was Ed's first time meeting Ben and seeing any of his work (so he had no expectations one way or the other and could really call it as he saw it).
We also reviewed BPM's removal of the cast-stone buttress copings at the north chancel gable. In the process of this review, Ed noted that at least some, and probably all original cast-stone units on the church were made in molds from two different cement mixes: the cement in the inside of the coping stones has a much coarser aggregregate structure than the cement at the surface. This would have been a cost-saving measure when the church was built.
