11-23-09

Walpole’s Bensonwood Updates Jefferson Pavilion

By Chuck Bingaman, Correspondent

            Timberframe leader Bensonwood, based in Walpole and Alstead, is completing construction of a new parapet for a major building, Pavilion X, originally designed by Thomas Jefferson for the University of Virginia “Academical Village” in 1819.

            Job captain Dennis Marcom said last week the project “is a wonderful thing because Jefferson is like a god down there. In fact they go a little over the top!  But, to me, what I get a kick out of, is marrying the ancient tradition of timber, joinery, pegs, and mortises and with the world of modern technology.  That’s an excellent marriage, and this project is a unique opportunity.”

 Dennis Marcom on the Bensonwood shp floor showing some of the design drawings for building the parapet for Pavilion X on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville originally deisgned by Thomas Jefferson in the early 19th century. Chuck Bingaman photo

            Pavilion X is part of the Neo-Classical university design Jefferson drew up in 1819 relying heavily on ideas of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio.  The scheme is a large U-shaped campus with the main building, the Rotunda, at the head looking down a sloping lawn and symmetrical wings with five large academic buildings on either side connected by columned walkways and smaller buildings called cottages where students live.  Each of the Pavilions is red brick with white columns and trim, designed to be three stories high with spaces for faculty to live in the top floors and for classes to be held on the ground level.  The pavilions at UVA were each designed uniquely to give dignity to each branch of learning and to be, as Jefferson put it, “models of taste and good architecture.”

            Jefferson apparently collaborated on Pavilion X’s design with Benjamin Latrobe, known to many as the “father of American architecture”.  It originally was three stories tall with a parapet, or roughly eight-foot high decorative wooden wall, sitting on and extending around edge of the roof to give the building greater presence.  After about 70 years of use, the parapet was removed from Pavilion X in the 1890s because of weather related rot and disintegration.

            Several years ago the university embarked on a restoration plan for the original Jeffersonian design and plans emerged for restoring the parapet. Eventually Bensonwood got the contract to build the new parapet, in large pieces, to be shipped to Charlottesville, Virginia for installation on the Pavilion X roof.  The trucks with the parapet sections leave during the week after Christmas, and Marcom will be on hand next week to assist in their installation.

            The parapet sections consist of heavy timber framing structure sheathed in African mahogany siding on both sides for strength and weather resistance.  Benson engineers and designers worked from Jefferson’s original drawings to duplicate his parapet’s dimensions and appearance, although they designed the new internal system of beams.  Benson timber experts also made the suggestion that the beams all be hewn from Port Orford cedar, a variety found only around Port Orford, Oregon, because of its superior resistance to rot.  Port Orford is also one of the most aromatic cedars, and the Benson factory on Rt. 12 has been smelling exceptionally good during the past few weeks of timber cutting and assembly!)

            The parapet is purely decorative.  “It comes from a time,” says Marcom, “when I think there was something more substantial about decoration. It was more important to the culture. We tend to look at decoration as frivolous, but they took the decoration very seriously to create the balance and harmony they were looking for.  That’s why, in addition to the timber frame walls and cladding, this parapet also includes extensive and complicated trim work being constructed under the supervision of project captain Kevin Bittenbender in Alstead.”

            “The trim is HUGE,’ added Marcom, “and while the timber work has been  challenge—all those big timbers in very close proximity within the wall—the trim, because of its size and complexity, has been an even greater challenge.”

            “So the project has tested our skills and experience,” chuckles Marcom, “with a lot of players involved!”  And, there is the architectural importance of the work—it’s got to be just right and true to Jefferson’s original plan.  “I don’t stand back and think about the significance of a project like this a lot while I’m doing it.  The reflection part doesn’t typically happen until the job is done.  We’re just doing the work and trying to get it right.  But it IS Thomas Jefferson's concept and the combination of old design and new technology is what interests me most—putting those two things together—that’s what I’m getting a kick out of.”

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