The photographs to the left were taken
before the restoration began.
Parma Conservation, With the Assistance of
Bernacki & Associates, Restoring Historic
Blackstone Library Murals
The Blackstone Memorial Library in Hyde Park houses one of the jewels of Chicago’s
artistic past; a small cupola of beautiful gilt moldings and magnificent murals painted
by the celebrated artist, Oliver Dennett Grover. The cupola is currently undergoing
a much-anticipated restoration and conservation project sponsored by the
Preservation Division of the Chicago Public Library System.
The City of Chicago awarded this contract to PARMA Conservation, with a
subcontract to Bernacki and Associates, Inc. The collaboration between the two
companies has already proved to be a huge success. Conservators from both groups
are providing their unique expertise to achieve the ultimate goal: restoring the original
beauty of the artwork through advanced cleaning techniques.
CONDITION OF MURALS:
Obvious to the naked eye was the compromised condition of the murals — they appeared dark, dirty, and spatially flat. As the murals date from 1902-1903, this came
as no surprise. However, City of Chicago documents suggested that the murals were
restored in 1958. This notion seemed at odds with the present-day appearance
of the murals.
Parma’s tests confirmed the 1958 restoration and provided insight as to why the
murals appeared so dirty. Three distinct non-original layers were found present on the
surface of the murals. The first layer was dirt that has accumulated since 1958.
The second layer was an alkyd resin varnish coating applied in 1958 (Alkyd resin is
a polyester/oil varnish intended for furniture. It darkens tremendously over time).
Finally, beneath the alkyd resin was yet more dirt. It seems that when the murals
were “restored” in 1958 they were only partially cleaned, and much dirt remained
embedded beneath the varnish they had applied. The combination of these layers
made the murals look visually worse than if they had never been touched.
To remove the three layers, Parma developed a three-phase cleaning system
achieving excellent results that reveal the original artwork.
CONDITION OF THE PLASTER AND GILDING:
The plaster work is extremely dirty with loose dust and debris, and accumulated
grime. That is encased in what appears to be an original coating. The plaster work
is toned to give a very subtle rubbed patina. There appears to be four different areas
of original toning. There are medium dark green rectangles on the spandrel panels.
There are two different examples of a greenish/beige toning on most of the flat banding
that varies in darkness and thickness. All of the foliage and relief panels have been
coated with a gray/beige layer that has been rubbed off all of the highlights.
This rubbing appears original due to the overall consistency of the treatment on all
areas and the fact that the gilded highlights applied on all of the cast ornament are
complete and not rubbed.
The gilt highlights were oil gilded using a bright yellow toned size applied to the
sculptural highlights with a brush. The leaf appears to be gold, not composition leaf,
due to the fact of no examples of copper alloy oxidation and no appearance of
a protective coating. The gilt has the warmth and brightness of reflection consistent
with 23 Kt gold.
A Bit of History of the Blackstone Memorial Library
Building and Murals
The Blackstone Library was the first branch of the Chicago Public Library chain,
and it was given to the city by Mrs. Isabel Norton Blackstone in memory of her
husband, Timothy Beach Blackstone (1822-1900), a noted businessman, developer
and philanthropist. In 1893 there was already another, larger Blackstone Library in
Branford, CT dedicated to Blackstone’s father. The Branford building was designed by
Solon Spencer Beman, and the library murals were created by Oliver Dennett Grover.
The architect, Solon Spencer Beman (1853-1914) was a nationally
renowned architect who began his training in New York mentored by
Richard Upjohn. In 1879, Solon Beman was commissioned by George M. Pullman to
design the first planned industrial town in America named the Pullman Community.
This project included over 1300 houses, a factory, a water tower, church, theater,
hotel, market place and schools in the Chicago area. Other projects included the
Studebaker, later the Fine Arts Building, Grand Central Station, the Kimball Mansion
and the First Church of Christian Scientist on Drexel Blvd. Beman also designed the
Pioneer Building in St. Paul MN, the Pabst Building in Milwaukee, WI and the
Michigan Trust Building in Grand Rapids, MI., and the Merchant Tailor’s building at
the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Solon S. Beman was, like his teacher,
Richard Upjohn, an architect who studied historic architectural styles to better solve
the design problems of his time. Unlike his mentor, however, he was interested in and
made use of the newest available technologies when he deemed them essential to the
solution of the design problem at hand. An architect who worked in a broad range of
building types, Beman’s residences and churches are thoroughly demonstrative of
historic revival styles, particularly the Gothic and Classical. In his industrial work,
however, the style of the building is applied to a practical solution that makes for a tall
building with many floors, each having an open floor plan filled with maximum
natural light.
The painter, Oliver Dennett Grover (1861-1927) had first worked with
Beman at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, when he painted eight mural
panels for the interior of Merchant Tailors Building, designed by Beman and
incidentally patterned after the Erectheon. It could be said that Grover made a name
for himself while working with Beman, but in truth, Grover’s own talent made him
famous. He was close friends with Loredo Taft, the famous Chicago sculptor,
and Ralph Elmer Clarkson, Chicago’s portrait painter. At a very young age he studied
with Frank Duveneck in Florence, and with James Abbott McNeil Whistler, in Venice,
and many others among the thriving artists’ colonies that formed in Europe before
WWI. At the time of his death in 1927, he was mourned as “much unlike the ordinary
(or extraordinary) type of artist as one could well find” (Chicago Daily Tribune 2/27/27).
By the time he had finished the murals for the Timothy B. Blackstone Library,
the Chicago Tribune, a newspaper with one of the largest circulations in the country,
was heralding Grover as the “leader in mural painting.”
The Classical Revival Blackstone Library building was modeled after Beman’s
Merchant Tailors Building in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the
Erechtheum at the Athenian Acropolis.
OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND SIGNIFICANCE
The plaster floral ornamentation in the rotunda accentuates the form of the dome
as well as frames the wall murals. Placed in the cupola vaults, these mural paintings
feature the themes of art, literature, science and labor. In these four lunettes emerge a central winged female figure identified as Demeter a Greek goddess who
bestowed agriculture and civilization upon the world during the reign of Erechtheus.
In a symmetrical balance, each lunette presents four other figures each illustrating
a discipline of that defined theme.
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& Design International, All rights reserved