Facade Longevity: Restoring Wood Storefront at Wellesley College's Jewett Arts Center by Paul Rudolph (1958)

Paul Rudolph's Jewett Arts Center at Wellesley College, completed in 1958, is an iconic mid-century modern building - Rudolph's first large-scale work and arguably the first collegiate "arts center" complex combining music and art in a single building. Following the guidelines of a Getty-sponsored conservation plan for the building published in 2017, incremental improvements are being undertaken on the building. Wood storefront enclosing the building's music library is a current priority. The music library is suspended over the Academic Quad on a concrete slab with wide brick panels punctuated by 13-foot high oriel windows spanned by clerestory. Sixty years of weather on this northeast facade with a four-inch concrete brow has caused significant portions of the pine storefront to deteriorate. Sorensen, who was OPM on the conservation plan, will present her firm's technical and methodological preservation analysis of the options available for restoration and replacement, reflecting input from preservation experts and restoration contractors.

We look forward to further discussion and debate of this preservation challenge, and to sharing this analysis with owners and architects facing similar technical issues.

RSVP to [email protected] by 10 AM on Monday February 11 if you plan to attend.

We look forward to seeing you on Monday!