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The main house itself is one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in North America, and is the work of John Latshaw, master carpenter and builder turned architect.

Project Update 6

February 23, 2011 
Over the past two weeks, things have continued to speed along on the wall project. As mentioned in the last update, a large piece of Queenston limestone, was sent to Old World Stone in Burlington, to be cut down to size for a replacement sill for the Southern wall’s far right ground floor window. It’s since been cut down and has begun to be traditionally dressed in the same manner as the other stones. John Laundry, stonemason, has taken on the task of reproducing this traditionally boasted sill and is almost finished, so next week it can be placed back in the wall.



The rest of the sills and string course pieces that needed repair have been pinned, epoxied and puttied by Emily Kzsan, heritage consultant. There is one Dutch repair that still needs to be completed on one of these stones but they will soon all be done and in the wall. The rest of the Southern wall that was awaiting it’s turn to be opened up and set back, has now been dismantled. This last part of the wall was where the bulge was most prominent and the crew is having quite the time trying to ready this bit of the wall to be rebuilt. You will recall from past updates that it was in this section of the wall (in between the windows of both the ground and 1st floor) where a bricked and cemented in chimney was found. The cement is so hard that it is having to be sawn out in chunks, in order to get the core of this wall far enough back for the stones to be reset to be plumb with the rest of the wall.


Since things have been motoring along with the final dismantlement of the southern wall, some of the time and resources of the stonemasons has been able to go into starting to face point the rest of the wall that has already been rebuilt. Carol Jackson, stonemason, because of her attention to detail has been an integral part of this process. Carol has also reconsolidated the stones around the windows on the inside of the building (in Reif Hall). As the parts of the wall are face pointed the mortar must have a slow drying time, so the areas are covered with damp burlap and plastic sheeting to ensure that the minimum amount of moisture is lost over the maximum amount of time.