Preservation Update – The Great Hall Ceiling

Preserving a house as old as Drayton Hall is both an art and a science. Take our work on the conservation of the decorative cast plaster ceiling in the Great Hall as an example. This historic ceiling has been a major focus of conservation efforts for decades, and it is one of the projects that has made Drayton Hall a place of leadership and innovation in our field.

Twenty years after its last large-scale conservation project, the Great Hall ceiling is the focus of our preservation efforts once again. Persistent structural problems and the degradation of old repairs threaten the ceiling, and recent tests with non-destructive technology confirm that the remediation of structural deficiencies in the floor system above is essential. Addressing these deficiencies is extremely challenging, because we must stop an extraordinary amount of deflection in a very small space—an undertaking that has been attempted, but not fully realized, several times in the house’s history.

Drayton Hall Ceiling Medallion

In recent years, we’ve successfully tackled our thorniest preservation problems by convening the best minds in the field of preservation for a multi-day forum. A forum typically includes several engineers and architects as well as conservators and architectural historians. The group is presented with a problem and then spends several days examining the issue closely, debating potential solutions, and charting the next steps in the process. Such meetings were employed for the rehabilitation of Drayton Hall’s iconic portico from 2012-16 and the strengthening of the mahogany staircase which was completed in April 2022. In both instances, the forum focused our thinking, strengthened our relationships with partners in other organizations, and led to innovative solutions that were more sensitive and saved money in the design and implementation phases.

This February, we hosted a two-day forum to examine the results of our ceiling investigations and discuss the best path forward. We also held a cocktail reception at the end of the first day to get feedback from our supporters who might not be preservation professionals but who care deeply for the site and whose opinions we wanted to consider for this extremely important project. After gathering as much data and feedback as possible, the group decided that the best course of action to protect Drayton Hall historic interiors and our visitors’ continued access to the house is to carefully disassemble the ceiling, repair the deficient floor system above, replace the old (cracked) flat plaster, and put back the historic cast plaster elements in their original locations. We believe that this plan strikes the best balance between retaining as much historic material as possible and making the house as safe as possible.

Participants examine The Great Hall Ceiling

Craig Bennett, P.E. Examines The Great Hall Ceiling

Drayton Hall’s  Board of Trustees approved this plan in February, and work is already underway to design a new floor system and to plan the most careful way to disassemble the current ceiling so that we protect the historic decorative elements. As with other major preservation projects in the house, we believe that large sections of the building can remain open while work is underway. So, we encourage you to come see us and see this history-making project in person.

Published: April 2024