One of the elements of restoring a historic structure is determining what and why the original materials were used.
Christopher Quirk and Abdulla Darrat with John Milner Associates took us on the roof to view the condition and to see the mysterious inscriptions that were found on the chimney and in the concrete floor poured over the boiler room.
If you have any clues as to the people who wrote their names in the concrete please send your comments.
The names are Vivian Caudle and John McKinnon.
Although there are no definative answers yet, John Sherrer with HCF gives us a report on the roof:
The following report outlines the process undertaken by curatorial and preservation staff that led to the conclusion of what is believed to be the roofing material used at the time of the home’s construction in 1871-1872. Restoration of the roof carries with it both interpretive and financial consequences, as potential building materials vary in cost and interpretive appropriateness.
The original roofing material found on the Woodrow Wilson Family Home at the time of its construction in 1871-1872 mostly likely was wood shingle. Several different types of evidence point to this conclusion:
▪ The 1870 builder’s contract stipulates that the property should have a roof rendered in shingles, not metal. Had the roof been made of shingles, as the agreement stipulates then it most likely would have been clad in wood or slate. Had slate been employed evidence of its use should have been revealed in the 1988 archaeological excavation.
▪ Physical evidence found on what appears to be the earliest materials found within the attic indicates a nail pattern consistent with those made when installing wood shingles, one of evenly paired groupings, not evenly spaced single holes left when securing slate to a substrate.
▪ A survey of the 1904 Sanborn map indicates that at the turn of the nineteenth century the Wilson House was located within a neighborhood featuring homes, large and small, single and multi-story, that predominately were clad in wood shingles. This historic context suggests that the Wilson House’s appearance when brand new did not deviate from its neighboring buildings.
▪ Roof replacement involving a transition from wood to metal may have corresponded to Van Metre’s purchase of the property from Gillespie in 1896. Often, new owners render improvements to their property shortly after purchase.
▪ A private collection of circa-1874 stereograph cards depicting various buildings throughout Columbia indicates the presence of wood shingle roofs on both high-style homes and more utilitarian public structures.
▪ The overall architectural style of the Wilson Home, a vernacular interpretation of the Tuscan Villa style championed by Andrew Jackson Downing, would suggest that wood would be more in keeping than metal for the structure’s main roof, when completed in 1871-1872.
Recommendations
In order to achieve the most accurate interpretation of the property as the home of Woodrow Wilson (1872-1874) a wood shingle roof should be installed on the property.
A metal roof, which does have some precedent at the house, albeit at a later date than the future president’s time there, would prove to be the more durable product and the more financially effective installation-wise due to the limited number of experienced and qualified contractors capable of installing a wood shingle roof.
