Project: Rehabilitation of the Beechwood Estate, Bryn Mawr, PA
Architect: Frens and Frens, LLC, West Chester, PA:
Dale H. Frens, AIA, principal; Susan Frens, space planner; Erinn K. Fitzgerald, project architect
Contractor: E. Allen Reeves, Inc., Abington, PA
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To Stucco and Back
When restoration architects Frens and Frens, LLC, encountered the Beechwood Estate in Bryn Mawr, PA, it was covered with a drab yellow stucco and trimmed with false half-timber work. Ornamental gable trusses, one chimney, four fireplaces and a number of porches were some of the original 1877 elements destroyed in a 1927 renovation. Following an architecturally unsympathetic 1956 conversion to a school, The Friends to Save Beechwood, working with The Shipley School, raised $2.85 million to restore the Beechwood Estate. Frens and Frens was retained in 1998 to create a Preservation Plan and in January 2000, contractor E. Allen Reeves, Inc., began the restoration.
“This is an interesting project,” comments Dale Frens, AIA, Principal of Frens and Frens. “The Shipley School (a private day school) had originally intended to demolish the building, but townspeople and alumni alike became upset at this prospect. The Friends to Save Beechwood was launched, and the group raised a significant amount of money in a very short period of time.”
The 9,100-sq.ft. building was originally designed as a residence by prominent late-19th-century Philadelphia architect Addison Hutton, as a residence in a blend of the High Victorian Gothic and Queen Anne Revival styles. Frens and Frens based the restoration of the exterior on Hutton’s original design, which featured asymmetrical, multi-partite compositions, decorative gable trusses and finials, polychrome brickwork, leaded-glass windows and multiple porches. Though the firm’s goal was to restore the entire building, the interior needed to be adapted to house four faculty apartments and conference and reception space for the school. As with many restoration projects, the architects also planned for the integration of systems to meet current codes and for modern amenities.
The greatest challenge facing the architects was the removal of approximately 7,000 sq.ft. of Portland-cement plaster (stucco) from the exterior. “We had removed small quantities of paint and plaster at previous projects, but nothing as dramatic as this,” exclaims Dale Frens. Through on-site testing of numerous techniques, it was determined that the stucco could be removed with an acceptably low level of damage to the underlying brick. A mason cut and chiseled off the bulk of the stucco, and used acid-based chemical cleaners to complete the undertaking. Using a combination of hand chisels, chemical cleaners and hot water rinse, he removed the stucco in approximately 234 hours or 34 work days.
The roof was another area in need of repair. After the asphalt shingle and buried slate roofing was removed, areas of rot were established. There was actually less structural damage to the roof than the architects had anticipated, which they attribute to the steepness of the original roof. However, the rafters and sheathing along the eves were rotted and the beaded-board roof deck was deemed unsuitable and was thus removed. A new slate roof was installed, and copper flashings, gutters and downspouts were added.
The interior restoration concentrated on undoing the 1927 and 1956 alterations to the oak paneling, ceiling trim, walls and ceilings. All of the walls and ceilings, including the wood paneling and trim, had been painted in 1927. In 1956, florescent lighting had been installed and wood floors had been carpeted.
The new interior connects a library, parlor and dining room across one side of the house, and entrance hall and grand stair on the reception side of the house. The first floor spaces flow into each other and onto the surrounding porches, with the openings between parlors widened, as they were reconstructed in 1927. Arched screens and portieres were added instead of the paired pocket doors that were most likely featured in the original building. A Gothic arched opening between the entrance hall and stair hall was restored, and the original entrance at the southeast corner that had been abandoned in 1956 was reopened for use.
In 1956, the south porches had been in-filled and made into classrooms, but the 1998 design plan called for their reconstruction. With ca. 1890 photographs in hand and two surviving original porches, Frens and Frens was able to restore the remaining porches. To comply with building codes, the porch decks were framed with galvanized steel beams, and a light bronze top rail was placed above the height of the historical wood railing height. The porch piers, destroyed in 1927, were rebuilt in cast stone and ornamental trusses at the gable ends were replaced.
Beechwood Estate began as “a real community struggle to preserve an historic resource,” states Dale Frens. “Now that the restoration project is complete, Beechwood stands as a monument to community spirit and action. The townspeople, alumni and the school are all ecstatic about the end result.” The restoration was completed in January 2002. – Hadiya Strasberg
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