Westmount School Grotesque Repair and Restoration

This project repaired and restored a non structural grotesque (gargoyle) at Edmonton’s Westmount School that exhibited heavy damage. Boreas Principal Darrel Babuk and Material Scientist Adam Crawford assessed the grotesque in accordance with The Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. From this, it was determined to have been originally carved from Indiana Limestone. Two options were considered: restoration with modelling plaster, or a proper dutchman repair using Indiana Limestone. The dutchman repair option was chosen and approved by the Client as it cost only 3% more than the modelling plaster option and would be far more durable. In a serendipitous moment, we found that the Head Carver of Norway’s Stavenger Cathedral, Akira Inman was available, as he would be in Edmonton to celebrate a family birthday. From this, Scorpio Masonry located suitable limestone pieces that had been scraps from another project: Boreas evaluated and specified stainless steel pins, and Boreas and Scorpio together identified and evaluated historic lime based mortars that chemically behaved similar to limestone, to minimize any chance of mortar crackage or shrinkage. Akira’s contract was written so as to include presentations to the student body on his work as a stone carver; three students in turn sought information from their school guidance counsellor on careers in masonry trades. Repairing and restoring ‘November’ became a source of community pride.