Location

Bronx, NY

Services

Conditions Assessment

Conservation Treatments

Materials Sourcing

Materials

Stone

Woodlawn Cemetery and Conservancy is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City and is a designated National Historic Landmark. After Hurricane Sandy in 2012 damaged some of the cemetery’s prominent memorials, they contracted with JBC to perform repairs.

Deeves Memorial

This life-size Carrera marble angel was knocked from its perch atop a 30-foot granite column. The fall snapped-off both of its arms and left the wings beyond repair. After an assessment by our conservators, it was determined that the remaining wing fragments attached to her torso were in poor condition and could not support the weight of new marble wings. Working in consultation with the cemetery staff, our conservators modeled new wings out of clay using similar sculptures as a guide. New wings were cast in a light-weight composite material known as Microcotta and attached, along with the reassembled arms, using stainless steel pins. JBC then orchestrated the careful dance of maneuvering a large crane through the tightly-packed cemetery and lifting the angel back into place.

Hall Memorial

This twice life-size Tuckahoe marble memorial depicts an allegorical figure of hope (a woman with her hand on an anchor) resting on plinth base. After the memorial was damaged by a falling tree, our conservators worked with the cemetery staff to assess the damage and devise and execute a treatment plan. In the years before funding for restoration could be secured, fragments of the statue’s head and a portion of the base went missing. The marble that was originally used is no longer quarried. Our conservators worked with stone carvers to replicate the missing head using a similar marble and employed a combination of carved composite casting and patching to replicate other missing elements. The client was so happy with the results, they chose not to have us tint the replacement head so that the repair would remain distinguishable and could serve as an example to help the cemetery raise funds to repair other memorials.