FAYETTEVILLE -- Four new limestone columns arrived at the University of Arkansas on Monday but it may be a month before work crews begin to put them in the portico of Old Main, which is the oldest building on campus.
There is a lot of preparatory work that needs to be done first, said Tommy Burton, a vice president at Roberts-McNutt Inc. of North Little Rock, the subcontractor installing the columns.
He said the general contractor, CDI Contractors of Fayetteville, will build a shoring structure to support the entablature during the removal of old columns and installation of new ones.
"We don't want to take a chance of anything coming down," Burton said.
The four original 1875 columns in front of Old Main support an entablature and other parts of the portico, which is featured on the university seal. Burton said it could take two weeks to replace the columns.
The front porch of Old Main will undergo a $900,000 restoration. A grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council will contribute $700,000. The rest of the money will come from the university.
Besides the portico, the work includes replacing four limestone steps and a limestone landing with sandstone, which was the original material used for the steps. The sandstone steps and landing were replaced with limestone in 1981.
The main entrance to Old Main was closed last week, and it will remain closed until August. The building is still open, though, and can be accessed from the back or side doors.
"The columns have been patched and repaired unsuccessfully over the last 80 years and have become structurally unsound," according to the grant application.
The new columns are made of Indiana limestone. Each column is 15.7 feet long and weighs about 6,000 pounds. They were manufactured by Quarra Stone Co. in Madison, Wis., and shipped to Fayetteville on Friday.
Besides the columns, other parts of the limestone portico will be repaired or replaced, and steps will be taken to keep moisture from damaging the stone.
Burton said Roberts-McNutt also will remove the two inscribed cornerstone faces that are on column pedestals in front of Old Main. Both of the cornerstone inscriptions are damaged because moisture trapped within the pedestal migrated through the limestone, depositing calcium on the face of the stone, according to the grant request.
The cornerstone faces will be preserved inside a campus building. Quarra Stone has made replicas that will replace the original inscriptions.
Roberts-McNutt did restoration work on the dome of the State Capitol in Little Rock.
Old Main was designed by John M. Van Osdel, a Chicago architect, in the Second Empire architectural style, according to the grant application.
Old Main went through a complete interior renovation and limited exterior renovation in the 1980s, according to the grant application. An exterior renovation project was completed in 2008, but it didn't provide enough funding for restoration of the portico and limestone steps.
Metro on 05/24/2016