Conservation and Repair Workshop
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans
Saturday, October 21 - Wednesday, October 25th, 2006

In partnership with Save Our Cemeteries, the World Monuments Fund, and the American College of the Building Arts, PTN offered a five day pre-IPTW Conservation and Repair Workshop at New Orleans' historic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. The workshop offered education and training opportunities in the conservation of brick masonry, stone, plaster and cast iron.

Workshop Objectives
"Hands on" work, observation and discussion with experienced tradespeople and conservators allowed workshop participants to develop skills in:

• Assessing and documenting fallen and damaged elements to determine original location and layout
• Determining treatment approaches and options
• Selecting appropriate materials for repairs
• Stabilizing immediate threats such as unstable structural elements, and detached features vulnerable to theft or loss
• Repairing damaged elements and features
• Restoring original features and finishes

The Site
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is located in the historic Garden District. It is among the city's earliest and most significant aboveground burial sites. Once part of the Livaudais Plantation, Lafayette No. 1 was designated a city burial site in 1833, and has since been in continuous use. Distinguished by its intersecting avenues, designed to accommodate funeral processions, it was the City's first planned cemetery. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places by virtue of its significant history, location, and architectural importance, it retains its original size and configuration, and contains a variety of tomb types and styles.

Projects

• Tomb 1 (A. Thomas Tomb): Masonry cleaning, conservation of cast iron fence components
• Tomb 2 (Taylor Tomb): Repair of brick; conservation of marble façade and plaster
• Tomb 3 (Gerstner Tomb): Conservation of inscribed marble tablets and plaster

Instructors

David Via, Conservator of Gravestones and Monuments   
Round Hill, Virginia  
David Via is a respected craftsmen and preservation professional whose  services include the conservation of gravestones and monuments, stone and brick masonry restoration, restoration of historic ironwork, sculptural and architectural stone carving.

Simeon Warren, Dean and Professor of Architectural Stone
American College of the Building Arts
Charleston, South Carolina
Chair of the Stone Department and Instructor, as a stone carver he learned his trade at Weymouth College, gaining an Advanced Craft Certificate in Masonry from the City and Guilds of London Institute. His first professional position was as an apprentice at Lincoln Cathedral, later becoming Deputy Yard Foreman at Wells Cathedral, where he worked on the central tower. He has also produced stone for a number of historic buildings including Buckingham Palace and The Houses of Parliament. At Glasgow School of Art he received a Fine Arts Degree in Environmental Art, which allows him to create more contemporary conceptual work.

Frank Genello, Professor of Masonry
American College of the Building Arts
Charleston, South Carolina
After completing an M.A., Preservation Studies from the Boston University Graduate School of Historic Preservation in 1981, Frank completed an internship with the National Park Service, North Atlantic Historic Preservation Center, where he performed research, lab work, and analysis of historical pigment composition and color recipes. Frank went on to work for the National Trust for Historic Preservation: Restoration Workshop where he provided a full range of restoration services and maintenance on properties owned and operated by The National Trust. Frank currently owns American Building Restoration Company, Inc., specializing in the restoration of historic structures, museum properties, residential construction and renovations.

Jean Lemineur, Professor of Plasterwork
American College of the Building Arts
Charleston, South Carolina
Jean is from Antwerp (Belgium) and graduated as a master plasterer from the Association des Compagnons du Devoir (France). He was selected as a member of the Equipe Itinerante which focused on particular high-level projects throughout France. Jean is the Professor of Plaster at the American College of the Building Arts and has worked for 10-years in traditional plastering, fibrous plastering and stucco in France, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. For two years, Jean was the Director of the Paris Compagnons Training Center. 

Hurchail Barthé
Villa Rica, Georgia
Hurchail Barthé is a member of one of the oldest families of plasterers in the United States and son of Earl Barthé of New Orleans.  Currently living in Villa Rica, Georgia, Mr. Barthé has been an instructor in Masters classes at the American College of the Building Arts.

John Friedrichs, New Dimension Building
Lexington, Virginia
John Friedrichs has been involved in building trades for more than thirty years, and he has been a self-employed mason twenty years this coming January. He taught himself his trade, with the help of seminars, lectures, workshops, and steady work. He is married 28 years, with two sons now employed as traditional craftsmen as well. He has had numerous apprentices, some of whom are now self-employed masons.

Workshop Sponsors and Partners

Save Our Cemeteries, Inc. (SOC) was founded in 1974 in an effort to prevent the demolition of nine city blocks of wall vaults surrounding most of the three squares of St. Louis II. Since 1974, SOC has broadened its focus from the historic cemeteries of New Orleans to include those of the entire state of Louisiana. SOC's three tenets are restoration, preservation, and education. Why save these cemeteries of the old city Commons or of other residential areas of New Orleans? Because they are, many times, the earliest remaining sculptural monuments of an area; because early nineteenth century New Orleans, through above-ground burial, exerted strong efforts to participate in the international neoclassic movement in cemetery styles; because much of the tomb and vault architecture is rendered in a practical, vernacular style found only in New Orleans and south Louisiana; and because New Orleans has thirty-one historic cemeteries, each differing from the other, either through the dictates of ethnic or of religious preferences, and each lending expression to local customs of reuse and family continuity.

Since its founding, SOC has raised millions of dollars which have been utilized in the city's historic cemeteries. SOC's work has been reported in the local, state, national and foreign media. SOC also has been recognized as a source for accurate historical information, as well as a source of documentation. SOC is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the city's historic cemeteries, but it is also focused on the education of both residents and visitors on the importance of preserving one part of New Orleans' cultural and architectural heritage-its cemeteries. SOC also serves as a resource for those across the state of Louisiana who are interested in preserving their local historic cemeteries.


For four decades, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) has dedicated itself to the preservation of imperiled works of art and architecture worldwide through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education and training. Since its founding in 1965, WMF has worked with local communities and partners around the globe to stem the loss of more than 460 important and irreplaceable monuments in some 80 countries. WMF-supported projects often include education and training opportunities for traditional building crafts. One of WMF’s most effective tools in its quest to safeguard humankind’s cultural legacy is the World Monuments Watch, a biennial listing of the 100 Most Endangered Sites. The list highlights the plight of individual sites and what it would take for them to be preserved for future generations. The U.S. Gulf Coast and New Orleans was added to the 2006 Watch list as the 101st site. A New York-based international organization, WMF has affiliates and offices in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The American College of the Building Arts (ACBA) is dedicated to educating the next generation of building artisans and to preserving the building arts in a manner never before seen in America. Under the direction of our experienced faculty, students will have the opportunity to learn the skills needed to excel in their chosen field, as well as receive a quality education. This combination of education, training, and access to highly experienced faculty is available nowhere else in the United States.  The American College of the Building Arts believes in graduating well-rounded, highly qualified and knowledgeable artisans.  Students will simultaneously evolve academically and artistically resulting not only artisans who can utilize materials to high levels of sophistication, but also professionals who can become leaders in the process of creating and preserving our building legacy.  Historically, building artisans were seen as equals to doctors, lawyers, and clergy. Unfortunately, the manual trades have lost much of the aura and respect they previously held. This trend must be reversed. The College is dedicated to reawakening the respect people once had for master builders. Students will receive an excellent general education and the best training available in the building arts. With this education and training in hand, graduates will help change the face of America for the better.

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