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U.S. Capitol - The Lamps

This is a photo of the bronze cast Lamp Standards before conservation & restoration treatment at the US Capitol.
Before the conservation treatment the decorative lamps were crated & wrapped for shipment to ART Research Enterprises, Inc.
Each decorative lamp in cast bronze were similar in that they had severe corrosive attack, missing elements, broken glass, and much needed new anchoring systems. The photo above shows the lamps before conservation treatment.
This is a close up view of broken globes & damaged interior electrical system - all electrical systems and globes were up-dated during the conservation treatment. Numerous missing elements due to vandalism or weather related were re-produced & attached using archival photos from the Smithsonian Institute. This photo exhibits the lamps before conservation treatment.
In this photo one can see heavy corrosion crust on the cast bronze surface that presents a serious physical threat. The crust distorts and hides the surface details and texture of the sculpted cast bronze. Removal of the corrosion crust allows a maximum range of replicating the original patination. This photo exhibits the lamp before conservation treatment.
ART technicians dismantling and removing the cast bronze lamp fixtures in preparation for shipping
Three semi-trucks were used to transport all the cast bronze sculptural lamp standards and cast bronze lanterns.
Each bronze lamp fixture was crated for shipment & each glass globe was individually wrapped and packed in its own wooden crate before shipping.
Certain areas required scaffolding on the US Capitol steps for careful removal of the bronze lamps for conservation and restoration.
Technician repairing damaged sections of the cast bronze lamp fixture during restoration treatment.
Dismantled top portion of the cast bronze lamp fixture before restoration treatmen
This shows the updated bronze & electrical wiring for all the US Capitol Lamp standards.
The bronze elbow of the lamp is being fine-tuned so all sections fit snug
This cast bronze section for lamp #2 is in process of restoration. The elements are clamped before welding to make certain all units are level & balanced
Part of the conservation & restoration process begins by spraying water on the surface of the cast bronze lamp standards to remove the clay poultice that was applied to draw out or dissolve corrosion, impurities, sulfides and graffiti.
This is the bottom of the cast bronze lamps exhibiting deterioration of the original low carbon iron anchoring system. New Stainless Steel anchoring will be designed and engineered to install on the lamp standards during the return installation.
This is the interior of lamp with heavy corrosion and deterioration. It will be removed & replaced with Stainless Steel during the conservation & restoration process.
All iron attachments to the bronze lamps will be removed & replaced with Stainless Steel hardware during conservation & restoration procedure.
Lamp fixture sections are packaged in wooden crates for return shipment to the U S Capitol and then assembled on site.
After return shipment, the cast bronze Capitol lamp standards were staged at this location for installation.
Each cast bronze lamp standard was protected during shipment after the conservation and restoration treatment.Each cast bronze lamp standard was protected during shipment after the conservation and restoration treatment.
All Stainless Steel Anchoring system was fabricated in-house and welded to the interior of the bronze lamps on site.
New holes were drilled into the stone pedestal to receive the stainless steel anchor pins that were attached to the Capitol bronze lamps after the conservation and restoration treatment
The South-side of the U S Capitol cast bronze lamp standards have all new electrical wire to code. They are completed and are now ready for installation.
The technician is running air lines to each site location of the cast bronze lamp standards for final tweaking for a solid sound fit.
This photos shows one of the removed and restored lamps on the US Capitol grounds.
After the conservation and restoration treatment and the installation of all the cast bronze Capitol lamp standards, they are all in good working condition.

Project Notes:

The US Capitol project included conservation on the Capitol Lamps, Lanterns, Fountains and Trolley Transom. Conservators Mike Cunningham and Becky Ault led the project and the survey gathered by both conservators included condition assessments,photographic documentation, maintenance recommendations, and estimated resources needed to implement the recommendations.The written report also included the historical photographs and information about the sculptures on the grounds of the U S Capitol collection. There were four phases in the survey - planning the survey, conducting the survey, writing the survey, and developing a Long-Range Maintenance Plan.

Artist:

unknown

Material:

Bronze

Client:

U.S. Capitol