The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

Conservators from Conservation Solutions, Inc. (CSI), treated thirty early 20th-Century statues, the pediment group, and the large granite statues of Manhattan and Brooklyn that adorn the façade of the Brooklyn Museum. The façade figures were sculpted by several renowned American sculptors, including Daniel Chester French, Louis Saint-Gaudens and Janet Scudder. French established the sculptural program for the McKim, Mead and White building which depicts the contributions of world cultures on the building’s right and Classical cultures on the left, both combined in the central pediment.

Work on the limestone figures included assessments and treatments. Each figure was cleaned, carefully studied and repaired. Failed mortar fills were raked out without increasing the joint widths and filled with lime mortars color-matched to the stone. Other repairs included replacement of losses, stabilization, mortar patches, and Dutchman repairs. A series of stainless steel retaining brackets were custom formed to match the configurations of the sculptures and wired to original extended dutchman elements like hands to protect them against potential catastrophic failures.

The granite figures of Brooklyn and Manhattan by French that once adorned the Carrére and Hastings designed Manhattan Bridge were also treated. Each was disassembled into its component stones, cleaned, consolidated, filled and re-assembled atop new bases flanking the museum’s new entrance.

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