Conservation Policies & Recommendations
Basement
Investigate and determine the sources of the moisture in the basement spaces, such as soil moisture, roof drainage, and moat drainage.
Remove all biological growth, clean, and repair in kind as required.
Repair areas of wood rot at windows floors, door surrounds, and baseboards.
Repair areas of moisture damaged plaster.
Consider selecting one basement cell in the East Wing for interpretive purposes. The cells are a significant architectural feature to tell the story of hospital design, mental health care (theory and practice), and the Hospital’s role in the larger historical trajectory of mental health care in America.
First Floor
Mitigate all moisture infiltration.
Repair or replace materials damaged by moisture infiltration.
Consider a flexible adaptive use for the East Wing ‘hyphen’ that allows for interpretation of the space as a former ward.
Retain historic flooring tiles and floorboards.
Maintain the Center Building according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Preservation.
Second Floor
Mitigate all moisture infiltration.
Repair or replace materials damaged by moisture infiltration.
Maintain the Center Building according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Preservation.
Third Floor/Attic
Develop a plan to relocate the archives and collections from the attic.
Mitigate all moisture infiltration.
Repair or replace materials damaged by moisture infiltration.
Mitigate efflorescence.
Apply surface coatings/finishes to unfinished ceilings and walls of archival storage areas.
Seal and/or provide adequate filters at building envelope openings to prevent airborne particulates from entering the archive storage areas.
Stabilize the interior environmental conditions for the building materials, surface finishes, and the collections.
Maintain the Surgical Amphitheater according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Preservation.
Future repairs to the cracking plaster as documented in Appendix D PAH Interior Survey should take into consideration appropriate remedies to accommodate differential movement.
Cupolas
Mitigate all moisture infiltration.
Repair or replace materials in kind damaged by moisture infiltration.