The Center for Architectural Conservation

Bar B C Ranch, Grand Tetons, Jackson, WY

2011 - 2016

Established in 1912 by Struthers Burt and Horace Carncross, the Bar BC Dude Ranch is the oldest extant dude ranch in Wyoming and possibly in the United States. It is nestled on the flood plain between the Snake River and Teton Park Road. Created by its owners to include cabins, recreational buildings, a pool, corral, and fencing, the site was set up to offer paying customers the opportunity to socialize as well as enjoy the great outdoors.

Drayton Hall, Charleston, SC

1991 and 1999

Drayton Hall is well known as one of the earliest and certainly one of the finest examples of Georgian Palladian architecture in the United States. From the time of its construction until the period of the American Civil War, it served as the principle residence and symbolic seat of the descendants of John Drayton, a family of major influence and achievement in the history of the colony and state of South Carolina.

Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument

2017

The Architectural Conservation Laboratory is actively involved in a unique project examining the feasibility of stabilizing large petrified stumps on the Petrified Forest Loop at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. These petrified stumps constitute one of the major natural resources of the park. This project focuses on developing site-based methods for the conservation of petrified trees to benefit the park’s mission to conserve its fossil forest.

Fort Union National Monument, Watrous, NM

2016 - present

Established in 1954, Fort Union National Monument is the largest earthen ruin in North America, and commemorates the United States’ expansion of the American frontier during the age of Manifest Destiny. Long rectangular voids in the adobe walls once served as doors and windows. There are no roofs, there is no shelter, these ruins are exposed to the elements all around them. This research developed and tested a framework for the identification and classification of climate-related risks associated with specific masonry and earthen (adobe) built heritage including their context, exposure, materials, construction, previous treatments, maintenance, monitoring, and other critical attributes that affect durability and weathering. The goal was to describe how different manifestations of climate change (e.g., threats) will affect different types of traditional built heritage, especially masonry and adobe ruins. 

George Nakashima’s Art Building and Cloister, New Hope, PA

2015

The Arts Building and Cloister occupies a privileged position as the most iconic and architecturally significant of Japanese-American woodworker and architect George Nakashima’s built work. Dedicated on May 7, 1967, the building was intended as space of artistic interchange and contemplation. Of paramount importance is its hyperbolic paraboloid roof expressed in plywood.

Gordion, Yassihoyuk, Turkey

2009

As one of the principal archaeological sites in Central Anatolia, Gordion premieres Phrygian architecture that includes a nearly complete monumental 9th century BCE masonry gate, along with the remains of a once impressive citadel. Few sites in the world offer a glimpse of the Late Bronze and Iron Ages in Anatolia.

Jackson Lake Lodge, Jackson, WY

2014 - 2017

Completed in 1955, Jackson Lake Lodge was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood. The lodge is an example of the National Park Service’s interpretation of the International Style which became a hallmark of the Mission 66 Program from 1956 to 1966. The lodge combines elements of rustic structures of the earlier decades of the 20th century with a modern design aesthetic that responded to automobile travel

Merchants Exchange, Philadelphia, PA

2004 and 2007

William Strickland’s Philadelphia Merchants’ Exchange Building in Independence National Historical Park is notable for its innovative architectural design including colossal order colonnades with fluted shafts of Pennsylvania marble surmounted by Italian Carrara marble capitals of the Composite order. Ornately carved and signed by their Italian craftsmen, the capitals represent some of the most exceptionally sculpted architectural elements in Philadelphia and the country.

John Moulton Homestead

2017-2019

The John Moulton homestead stands out among the many vernacular log structures in Grand Teton National Park for its near total preservation as built in 1938. Among its character defining features is its distinctive: a pink-painted cement stucco exterior.

2020-Present

Midway Barn, Taliesin, Spring Green, WS

In keeping with the ongoing educational legacy of Taliesin, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's mission to preserve and interpret Taliesin, the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design is currently involved in two parallel research and training projects at the Midway Barn at Taliesin. In 2021, Professor of Practice, Pamela Hawkes worked with graduate student, Michele Kolb, to develop a rehabilitation plan for the Midway Barn Machine Shed as part of the requirements for the Master of Science in Design program with a concentration in Historic Preservation. Concurrently, the Center for Architectural Conservation (CAC) completed a second field season at Taliesin to continue recording and documentation of the barn complex from the previous year.

Mission San Xavier del Bac, Tucson, AZ

2018-2020

The Mission is an iconic regional focal point, nationally and internationally renowned as one of the most impressive and well-preserved examples of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United States. It remains an active Catholic parish, primarily serving the local Tohono O’odham community. Successful management and conservation of a complex site such as San Xavier requires a nuanced understanding of the ways in which the site was and is valued and utilized by different stakeholder groups. This project involves the development of a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) which incorporates the values  these different stakeholders and takes this input into account in the determination of significance, setting out a set of priorities reflective of different user groups that can serve as a principal reference for future decision-making.

Pecos National Historical Park, Pecos, NM

2018

The multi-phase project at Pecos National Monument builds off of the work carried out by the CAC at Fort Union National Monument to develop monitoring protocols to identify short- and long-term vulnerabilities of traditionally-built historic resources (sites) in the arid west. The protocols developed will allow NPS management to develop more informed conservation and management (preservation) plans for these sites.

2020-2022

Pennsylvania Hospital Conservation  Management  Plan

Pennsylvania Hospital is the first chartered hospital in the nation, founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond. The Hospital has long been an innovator in patient care, treatment techniques, and medical research. Today, patients are cared for in state-of-the-art facilities, but the heritage of the institution remains a source of ongoing inspiration.  At the request of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer of Pennsylvania Hospital, the Center for Architectural Conservation (CAC) and PennPraxis at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design developed this Conservation Management Plan (CMP) to provide recommendations and guidance for the future conservation and preservation of the historic Pine Building, grounds, and collections of Pennsylvania Hospital. 

Pipespring National Monument, Kaibab, AZ

2010

Housing lush springs in the arid Arizona Strip, Pipe Spring has historically been a valuable resource for the Kaibab Paiute Indians and later Mormon pioneers due to its history and location within the evolving Southwest landscape. Since 1923 the site has also served an important role in the National Park Service’s early interpretation of the scenic attractions and historical development of the region.

Pit and Quarry, Northampton, PA

2016

The Lehigh Valley’s extractive industries created a much altered landscape with vast and deep quarries, enormous kilns, and mill buildings in a complex landscape that allows for the exploration of architectural, ecological, and socio-cultural considerations. The intent of this project was to produce a well-documented and methodologically driven website that clearly identifies the critical components of this neglected large-scale industrial landscape through one of its principle industries. The Pennsylvania “Slate Belt,” an area of only 22 square miles, lies approximately 50 miles to the northwest of Philadelphia and just south of Blue (Kittanning) Mountain between the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers. The first quarries opened in the 1830s, but significant growth followed in the first decade of the twentieth century when Lehigh Valley accounted for approximately half the slate produced in the United States, eventually becoming the greatest slate producing region in the world.

Second Bank of the United States, Philadelphia, PA

1995 - 1999 and 2004

The easily accessible Pennsylvania marble quarried just north of Philadelphia was an important regional building stone for public and domestic structures in the nation’s largest colonial city. During the first half of the nineteenth century, William Strickland’s Second Bank of the United States and Merchant’s Exchange were among the first monumental stone structures to showcase the area’s famous marble.

Sprucetree House, Mesa Verde, Cortez, CO

2003 and 2008

Discovered in 1888, Spruce Tree House is one of the largest and best preserved alcove sites in Mesa Verde National Park. Containing over eighty rooms and seven kivas as well as open areas with very complete surface finishes with geometric embellishments, Spruce Tree House provides a remarkable window onto the region’s Ancestral Puebloan communities of the 13th century AD.

Tumacácori National Historical Park, Tumacácori, AZ

2014 - present

The Mission San José de Tumacácori is a Spanish Colonial mission now part of the Tumacácori National Historical Park. Federally designated in 1908, Tumacácori was one of the earliest national site dedicated to America's colonial Hispano history. The site is equally important for its long history of preservation and especially its surviving decorative painting on the exterior and interior.

Vizcaya Miami, FL

2003

Vizcaya, built for industrialist James Deering, has survived remarkably intact since its completion in 1922, but unlike the house the gardens have undergone significant changes since their completion the following year. The periodic impact of tropical storms and hurricanes has created ongoing conservation concerns that continue to impact the plantings and the architecture of the gardens.

Western Clay Kiln 7, Helana, MT

2010

Brick and tile manufacturing was once ubiquitous throughout much of the United States. Today, however, only a fraction of these industrial complexes survive. Of those standing, few preserve the buildings and machinery, kiln technology, and overall industrial landscape as the Western Clay Manufacturing Company site on the outskirts of Helena, Montana.

Whitney Studio, New York, NY

2009

As one of the few surviving examples of the work of artist Robert Winthrop Chanler, the Whitney Studio stands today as a masterpiece of early 20th century decorative art. Located on historic MacDougal Alley in Greenwich Village, the site is positioned at what once was the center of the early modern art movement in America.