Here is an example of the masonry repair work done by Knowles Industrial Services, Inc. on the Stewart Library Building.

The first picture shows the condition of the brick work under the ramp that used to go up to the South Entry Porch. I crawled under the ramp to take this photo.

The green thing on the left is the downspout. The right edge of the bricks is the corner under the front of the entry porch. You can see serious deterioration, especially just under the top step of the porch.

This next photo was taken after the ramp was removed and the masons had repaired the damage.

The brown thing on the left is that same downspout after painting. The area to the right toward the granite is the repaired base of the porch top step. Notice how the mortar in the repaired area matches the original. They had to use a specially prepared mortar to match the color and hardness of the original. Preservation is very different from building new. Repairs done with new materials and modern techniques would cause more harm than good. It was very important that we had contractors with experience in the preservation of century-old structures.