Stone Restoration and Maintenance Corner: Restoring the Craiglen Home
Bob Murrell
M3 Technologies
Photos by Bob Murrell
I recently had the pleasure of seeing one of our local gems restored, a beautiful blend of Italian and American architectural heritage. This is one of those extremely rare pieces of history that exhibits the enduring beauty and quality that solid marble projects.
In 1926, John Craig III built this historic house, just west of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, as a showplace of his stature both in the local and marble communities. John was co-owner and operator of Craig quarries and Candoro Marble Company, which at the time was the third largest marble processing plant in the country (Vermont Marble was number one and Georgia Marble was number two).
The area around Knoxville and the Holston River was a marble mecca in the 19th through the mid-20th centuries. In the early 1800s, there were many marble quarries and a few mills that processed the stone. Some were capable of sawing (cutting into slabs) and rubbing (grinding and honing) while others had equipment for polishing, finishing, and carving marble to its final form for installation.
There were many varieties of marble being quarried (actually, the local marble is partially metamorphosed and re-crystallized limestone, which I will discuss in greater detail in a future article). In the late eighteenth century, the marbles of the region were typically referred to as Holston Marble.
These marble deposits were the result of the area being a shallow sea some 458 million years ago. There were many small sea creatures like coral and mollusks that grew in abundance. By the end of the Paleozoic era, continental drifts and the shifting and upheaval (think of our nearby Appalachian Mountains) of land masses resulted in great pressures and temperatures which caused the limestone (created by the accumulated dead sea creatures) to re-crystallize into the marbles of the region.
John J. Craig (the 1st) originally came to Knoxville in 1839. By 1878, he had formed the J.J. Craig Company (which later became the Tennessee Marble Producers’ Company) which was both a quarrier and dealer in the local “Holston (or East TN) Marble.” With the growing demand for marble both locally and around the country, John and his company became one of the largest suppliers of the East Tennessee Marble.
John J. Craig Jr. was born in Knox County in 1860. He was married to Lucy Craig and they had four children, including John J. Craig III. In 1896, John Jr. separated from the Tennessee Producers’ Marble Company and reincorporated as the John Craig Company, along with two partners.
John J. Craig III worked hard in the family business, eventually becoming president in 1911. He and his second wife Louise had two sons, John J. Craig IV and William Donaldson Craig. The John J. Craig Company prospered and expanded under his leadership and the company soon controlled many quarries in the surrounding areas.
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Top Left: The Craiglen Home spiral staircase steps and risers are built from Wisconsin Kasoto limestone.
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Holston Marble, now called Tennessee Marble, was becoming very popular for government and other major public buildings across the country (mostly in the northeast and Midwest). There was a variety of colors and features from gray to an array of pinks and reds that were in great demand, at that time. Also, the stone was classified as an A marble. The classification of marbles were basically based on how well they shipped. Class A marbles were very sturdy with little to no faults and normally arrived unscathed. Class D marbles (typically ornate) were normally very fragile and broke easily, due to the many faults and fissures in the material.
With the growing demand for Tennessee Marble, John J. Craig III decided to expand into marble processing and finishing. In 1914 he incorporated the Candoro Marble Company. They acquired some land in south Knoxville and began production of a massive marble processing facility there.
They were next to a rail line which helped facilitate shipping, and a creek which supplied the water necessary to produce steam. Steam powered the huge polishing and cutting equipment until the 1940s, when TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) began to supply cheap electricity to the region, and made electrically-powered equipment use possible.
Craig wanted a facility large enough to process the marble blocks not only from his quarries, but surrounding county quarries as well. Eventually, Candoro Marble Company became the nation’s largest producer of Tennessee pink marble and one of the largest importers of foreign marbles, as well.
I have presented all of this information to lay the foundation for the story of the Craiglen Home. I thought it important that you know a little (and I do mean a little, as there are books and books about this subject) of the history regarding Tennessee marble and how it became one of the most relied-upon domestic marbles in the country.
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Top Left: Restoration in progress in Craiglen Home living room using Majestic 5x Marble Polishing Powder. Compare the completed section at top, with the scratched, dingy unrestored state, mid-photo to bottom.
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Exterior of the Craiglen Home, built as a showcase for marbles from Tennessee and around the world. |
In 1921, John J. Craig III engaged Charles Barber, a contemporary architect who had studied in Italy, to design an office and showroom for Candoro Marble Company. He later employed Barber (in 1926) to renovate an earlier Craig summer home, called Glen Craig, that was built in 1886.
Later in 1926, Barber was employed yet again to build Craiglen Home for John J. Craig III and his family. As stated before, Craiglen Home was a showcase for the marble from the Craig quarries and the marble imported from around the world by the Candoro Marble Company.
Craiglen Home was designed in 15th century Florentine style, and looks like it came right out of the Tuscan hills. There were plenty of Tennessee pink marbles used throughout the home, Verona marble of mottled orange and tan, Kasota stone from Minnesota, Marmor Pink, Roman travertines, Italian Rosso Antico, Tinos Green from Greece, Alabama White, Belgian Black, Italian Dolchetta Perlato, and Portoro (black & gold) were some of the many marbles used throughout the home. All of these were of course dimensional stone (meaning 3cm – 6cm material). 12 x 12-3/8 inch marble tiles are not available anywhere.
The master bath has marble walls, a solid marble dressing table, and a hand-carved vanity and counter of French Grand Antique, which is an extremely ornate marble. The floors were an inlay of Belgian Black and Lamarr Gray.
J.C. Kimball was hired to carry out the decoration of the home. She spent several months in New York purchasing furniture, fabric, light fixtures, and arranging for the manufacture of custom furniture. The house was completed in 1928 at an approximate total cost of about $130,000 (based on materials cost at the time).
In November of 2018, Knoxville Marble Polish was employed to help with renovation after the home was sold to its newest owner. The new owners wanted to keep the stone looking aged (with the acquired patina) and did not want the more modern glassy-polished look on any of the marble in the home.
Only deep scratches and bad etches were repaired. Majestic 5X Gold was used to clean and refresh the stones. It worked perfectly and gave the stone a refreshed look but did not change the almost leathered look from 90 years of wear. Majestic Stone Soap will be used as the regular maintenance product for cleaning and conditioning the stone. This will help keep the colors bright while helping to resist soiling and staining.
I was very fortunate to be involved with this project as it actually has meaning to me and one of my long-time friends, Jeff L. Craig (btw, his brother is John J. Craig VI). John J. Craig III was Jeff’s grandfather. Jeff worked at the Candoro Marble Company for many years, as did my Grandpa (see SRG Archives Sept. 2016).
I was able to invite Jeff and his son Zach over to the place during the renovation. He told me that he had ridden a teddy bear with cast iron wheels across the Cedar Pink floors in the living room (he probably contributed to some of the patina and scratches). He told me stories of how they played there when he was a kid.
This business has its ups and downs. We, as restoration professionals, get to see a world that many have no idea exists. This project was definitely one of those ups–a very special project indeed.
As always, I recommend submitting a test area to confirm both the results and the procedure prior to starting a stone or hard surface restoration or maintenance project. Also the best way to help ensure success is by partnering with a good distributor that knows the business. They can help with technical support, product purchase decisions, logistics, and other pertinent project information.
Bob Murrell has worked in the natural stone industry for over 40 years and is well known for his expertise in natural stone, tile and decorative concrete restoration and maintenance. He helped develop some of the main products and processes which revolutionized the industry, and is currently the Director of Operations for M3 Technologies.