Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The Brickmason's Perspective
By James W. Price, Master Brickmason, Price Masonry, Monroe, Virginia
I formed Price Masonry Contractors in 1975, building residential, industrial,
and commercial properties. We have always been involved on restoration
projects, due to my own passion for historic masonry, but in 1988 we shifted
our direction to primarily historic preservation. While performing the masonry
restoration at President Thomas Jefferson's Villa Retreat 'Poplar Forest', we dis-
covered that no 'truly' traditional mortars were being produced in the United
States. The caliber of this project demanded the highest level in authenticity,
so we set forth and built our first lime kiln to produce the quicklime for the
mortars, plasters, as well as the limewashes that would be used in our works of
restoration. The fruit of this endeavor was the creation of Virginia Lime Works,
which, in the years that have passed, has had the honor of supplying mater-
ials to historic preservation projects throughout the United States, Canada,
and the Caribbean. Today Price Masonry Contractors still maintains two crews
working in the field of restoration; one currently at 'Montpelier' home of our
fourth President, James Madison (1751-1836), and the other, being my own
personal project, the reconstruction of the Chapel at St Mary's City.
When approached to be part of the team in the reconstruction of the
Chapel, we immediately were aware of the impact this recreation could have.
Although this is not the biggest project, nor the most expensive, we felt that
this would become one of the most significant in the United States. The foun-
dation which was created to pursue the reconstruction, the archaeologists, and
the architects, all expressed a fervent belief that the chapel should be re-built
using traditional materials that were common in the late 17th century. Our
desire was not only to use traditional materials, but also the historic craft tech-
niques employed by the masons of 1660.
In my research into traditional masonry, I came across the works of Gerard
Lynch and via my contacts in the United Kingdom; I decided that no one in
America could offer the same degree of input for the traditional techniques to
be employed at the Chapel. All interested parties made the decision that a site
visit by him to Maryland would be of great benefit to the project. During this
visit, numerous seventeenth century sites were toured and the project devel-
oped into a more defined direction.
Through our discussions I was introduced to the subjects of traditional 'cut
and rubbed' techniques of brickwork and also of color wash and pencilling, all of
which would be heavily utilized in the recreation. As a result of this consultancy
a visit was arranged and myself and fellow bricklayer Jerry Campbell, travelled to
Lynch's workshop in Woburn Sands, Buckinghamshire for a weeklong master-
class in order to train and gain hands on experience in these skills. While there
the architects for the project, John Mesick and Jeff Baker, of Mesick, Cohen,
