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Murals
and Restoration Gallery E: Library
of Congress
Most of my work for the Architect of the Capitol was actually
spent working on restoring the decorative art at the Library
of Congress with Dean Kalomas, my foreman, and Ron Brooks,
my co-worker. Here you can see some pictures of our work
in restoring the domes in the Great Hall and re-discovering
and restoring the original art in the first floor corridors
that had been painted over since the Second World War. Restoration
is a lot of work, requiring paint removal, lead abatement,
careful scraping, tracing the old design, matching the original
colors, matching the brushwok of the original painters and
painting the final new product. For many years we worked
the night shift, which can bring out a different side in
you. The final pictue is an awards ceremony where we were
recognized for our work by the Archicect of the Capitol.
Also shown is one of the surprises we found while restoring
the original art on the entablatures above the windows of
northeast corridor of the Library of Congress, where we
uncovered the names of famous native chiefs and war heros
(which remain covered).
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