MATERIALS DISCUSSION: Assessing Drayton Hall's Decorative Plaster Ceiling

Thursday, October 24, 2024 
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ET

Since the 1970s, several plaster conservation projects were undertaken to preserve the decorative cast plaster ceiling in Drayton Hall, a c.1750 house in Charleston, South Carolina. The subject of several publications and conference presentations, these treatments are well-known to many and include added mechanical fasteners, plaster patches, and epoxies. Less understood was how the various treatments could be expected to perform over time, especially in an unconditioned building where materials cycle through dramatic changes in temperature and humidity. In this Materials Discussion, you’ll hear from and talk with members of the project team who assembled at Drayton Hall in 2024 to assess the condition of this plaster. Presenters will address which NDE techniques they liked best, what they observed about how the treatments performed, and what happens next for this ceiling.

This non-CEU event is free for APT members. Non-members fee is $10.

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Speakers:
Craig Bennett, Jr. PE, SE, Bennett Preservation Engineering
Craig is a practicing structural engineer at Bennett Preservation Engineering in Charleston, SC. His work is exclusively in structural engineering for historic preservation and covers over 20 National Historic Landmarks, primarily in the southeast. He is a longstanding supporter and involved member of APT.

Patricia Smith, MSHP, Director of Preservation & Archives, Drayton Hall
Patricia Smith, MSHP, is the Director of Preservation & Archives at Drayton Hall in Charleston, SC. Her major areas of focus are architectural research and conservation, collections care, exhibit design and fabrication, and disaster preparedness and recovery. She was an organizer and speaker for the American Institute for Conservation’s first Lowcountry Alliance for Response Forum, is a task lead for APT’s Disaster Response Initiative, and co-chairs APT’s Southeast Regional Chapter.

Steve Stuckey, PA(AIC)
Steve is the Executive Director and Architectural Conservator of the Tower Heritage Center in West Bend, WI. He is actively involved in the historic building material analysis and testing for historic properties of all sizes, and facilitates ongoing public education of architectural conservation. Steve is a member of the American Institute for Conservation and APT.

Presented by APT's Materials Technical Committee