QuarryHouse Services: Restoration

At QuarryHouse’s Richmond workshop reviewing plans

Did you know that QuarryHouse does restoration work? The team is well-versed in undertaking extensive historic stone renovations. They have a proven track record of stonemasonry, where the restoration work is undetectable. Recently, QuarryHouse collaborated with Dave Sturm of Butler Armsden Architects and stone conservator Chris Daniels on restoring and preserving a Willis Jefferson Polk mansion. Polk designed the San Francisco landmark in the Italian Renaissance Revival style at the end of the nineteenth century. The building's gray sandstone façade had deteriorated over time. Its current owners wanted to ensure Polk's masterpiece survived for future generations. 

QuarryHouses’s master artisans carving decorative elements to replace deteriorated ones

QuarryHouse meticulously restored the deteriorated sandstone façade cladding and a semi-circular portico entrance; they repaired historical features rather than replaced them wherever possible. One of the many challenges was when a piece had deteriorated beyond repair and needed replacement, matching the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. The quarry was long closed for the original sandstone quarried from Yaquina Bay, Oregon. Berea Sandstone from Birmingham, Ohio, was used as a substitute for the Ashlar Masonry. QuarryHouse went through every detail of the job to exceed the homeowner's expectations, rebuilding their Polk estate. 

QuarryHouse team on site for the installation of the portico

Polk was one of San Francisco's most influential architects of the early 20th century. He came from a family of Kentucky architects and builders devastated financially by the Civil War. Because of this, Polk did not receive a formal education. Instead, he started work at eight, learning the building trade from his father, Willis Webb Polk. After traveling and working around America, Polk ended up in San Francisco at 25 in 1892. The move left the city an architectural legacy, including seven of his buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and twelve designated as San Francisco Landmarks.

Photography: Poppy Lynch