Page 11 - Demo

Slippery Rock Gazette
Using Locally Sourced Limestone
January 2024 | 11
Continued from page 10
“Trying to get material in the size that you would like to get it can be a pretty import- ant part of sourcing the stone,” she explains. “When we’re working in preservation, that’s really dictated by the existing building. When we have to go out looking for substitute mate- rials, or substitute stones, it does get really challenging.”
In some cases, Manglitz is trying to match the original color on a building. Other times, she’s looking for a stone that can work with a particular finish. “A lot of the buildings that I work on have some sort of tooled finish to them or they have carvings incorporated, and trying to make sure that you can accurately replicate and get the same feel for it is import- ant,” she says.
Victory Eagle Connects with University of Kansas Campus
Manglitz works to recommend stone based on everything from price to aesthetics. She and her team were called upon to work on a 1929 “Victory Eagle” statue in honor of Douglas County residents who lost their lives fighting in World War I. The bronze Victory Eagle monument features a mother eagle with her wings spread wide, defending her eaglets in a nest.
The statue had seen better days after being stolen and thrown in a ditch before being res- cued in the early 1980s. A new base needed to be designed before it could be relocated to Memorial Drive with other war memorials. The client initially wanted a base that wasn’t a native Kansas stone, but Manglitz recom- mended other stones that would be a more appropriate fit.
She began by recommending granite for the first two courses. “Granite is going to hold up a lot better; it’s not going soak up de-ic- ing salts that are likely to be used on the side- walks and it will handle that installation much better than limestone,” she shared, adding that the dark green granite from Coldspring goes well with the overall landscape, since it sits on a site looking down into a forested valley.
The main shaft is Silverdale limestone from Kansas. “Silverdale has a little bit of a warmer color and it tends to go better with the existing architecture,” she says, again empha- sizing the importance of regional stone used on other buildings throughout the area. “The more locally sourced stones historically used on the campus have a slightly warmer tone to them.”
Manglitz sees many benefits to choosing locally sourced stone over manmade materials
like precast concrete in her work. She points to the lower embod- ied energy inherent in natural stone when compared to pre- cast concrete as a major factor. “Precast you can do anywhere,” she says. “When you’re using a local stone product, you’re linking yourself to the history of construction within your particular region. It’s partly about place-making. It’s partly about the environment. And it’s partly thinking about dura- bility for the next generation.”
Megy Karydes is a Chicago- based writer. Find her at MegyKarydes.com .
(Before and After) Fire gutted Kansas State University’s Nichols Hall in
1968. Adaptively reused in 1985, the 1911 building has continued to suffer accelerated deterioration of Neva and Cottonwood limestone due to the heat damage from the fire—a portion of the south façade before repair and stone replacement. Photo credit TreanorHL.
The stone façade of Nichols Hall as it appeared in 2017 after stone repair, replacement, repointing, and cleaning. Cottonwood limestone, supplied by Lardner Stone, was used when replacement was necessary. Photo credit Architectural Fotographics/TreanorHL.
Oklahoma State Building: From 2016 to 2020, Manglitz was the project manager for exterior masonry repairs to the 1917 Oklahoma State Capitol. The restoration included replacing veneer panels, dutchman repairs, crack pinning and injection, cleaning, and repointing. Tishomingo pink granite from Oklahoma clads the first floor, and Hoosier silver-gray from Indiana Quarries clads the upper floors. Photo credit F. Stop Photography/TreanorHL.
The 1929 bronze sculpture, Victory Eagle, moved to a new home along Memorial Drive at the University of Kansas in 2019. The stone pedestal follows the pattern historically recommended by the Victory Highway Association, which organized the memorials in 1921 to commemorate the loss of life in World War 1. Silverdale limestone, quarried in southern Kansas, and Mountain Green granite from Coldspring form the pedestal. Photo credit Julia Mathias Manglitz.
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.
It will never fail you.” –Frank Lloyd Wright