Fifty-two stonemasons working with almost 6,000 tons of fieldstone for collegiate gothic Whitman College
By: Ross Kenneth Urken
"When they said you can’t build them like you used to, you can," project superintendent Rick Ford said of the construction of Princeton University’s collegiate gothic Whitman College.
With Whitman scheduled to open in the fall of 2007 as the university’s sixth residential college, Mr. Ford knows the important role the stonemasons’ artistry plays in building a 21st-century structure to blend with buildings from over 100 years before.
But the project coordinators have reasonable aims for success.
"Our goal is to continue in the tradition of the collegiate gothic style of much of Princeton," project director for Whitman College John Ziegler said. "But we’re looking for equivalency without desire to replicate … parity without being identical."
The 52 stonemasons work with more than 6,000 tons of fieldstone in addition to the limestone and Vermont slate for the roofs.
As men hold up levels to make sure the mortar joints are balanced, Mr. Ford decides to call over the stonemasons themselves, who hail from Dan Lepore & Sons in Conshohocken, Pa.
When Mr. Ford says that he has brought in what he dubs "the experts," the men in humility and slap-stick comedy turn around, look and ask where the experts are.
One finally jumps into explanation of their technique.
"We basically have a three-headed ashlar pattern," stonemason Daryl Rogers explained. "You have to think ahead mathematically about how you want to make your vertical jumps in the pattern. … It’s pretty important to plan ahead, so you don’t get in a jam. You have to come up with your own composition."
In this technique, there are often two stones juxtaposed to a larger stone on the same plane and occasionally an angled stone to break the pattern.
Limestone will frame the windows and the building trimmings, but whereas the limestone is precut and numbered to fit like a puzzle, the fieldstone presents the true challenge in stonemasonry. Before a mason places each fieldstone, he must blend the stone to fit a certain palette.
"They don’t have a finished product for each of the stones. … The masons have to work their artistry," Mr. Ziegler said.
To lessen the challenge, the corner stones of the buildings assure the masons a finishing point at the ends of walls, according to Mr. Ford.
"It gives a new definition to cutting corners," Mr. Ziegler mused.
Named in honor of eBay President and Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman and her family, who gave $30 million toward the project, the new college was designed by Demetri Porphyrios, a Princeton graduate alumnus who is world-renowned for his classically styled architecture.
The massive job, which will cost $140 million to $150 million just for construction, according to Mr. Ford, involves a necessary step-by-step building process.
"Everything has to run in stages," stonemason Matt Curran said. "The windows are surrounded by limestone. … It’s a balancing act. The ashlar has to come up before the limestone can go on. The ashlar continues. We have to juggle guys around."
To find the pattern and uniform coloring, the men work with architectural plans to see the palette before them. In one instance, there were 26 samples of patterns for stone palette pattern scrutinized by authorities all the way up to the president. "Tilghman, not Bush," Mr. Ziegler clarified jokingly.
"The project as a whole has a good sense of camaraderie," Mr. Ford said of the men, who work 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. five days a week laboring seriously, joking lightheartedly. The men are from a 100-mile radius and of all different backgrounds from the experienced mason with 30 years in the trade to the first-year apprentice.
But even before relationships are formed and stone patterns decided upon, choosing the stone became one of the most crucial and difficult aspects of the project, according to Mr. Ziegler. There are generally two kinds of fieldstone used argilite and Wissahickon schist. Though it was the initial goal to build with argillite, the stone proved expensive and too brittle, according to Mr. Ziegler. And the schist became too difficult to gather.
So the fieldstone has been quarried from two locations of blue stone with 60 percent of denser stone from Alcove, N.Y., and 40 percent of less-dense stone from Endless Mountain in Susquehanna, Pa.
"We wanted something reasonably readily attainable that has properties that give it long life, make it reasonably workable, and an aesthetic that was compatible with other buildings on campus," Mr. Ziegler said.
And with shrewd stone choice, he expects the finished product to be commensurate in size and appearance with structures close to it.
"Whitman College is … a good neighbor with respect to massing, and the stone itself is exceptionally well suited to complement other stones on campus," Mr. Ziegler said.
On site last Friday, Mr. Ziegler and others became concerned about the weekend snowstorm. The men began to set up scaffolding and tarps. They even arranged for propane heaters to preserve the nearly laid stones from the cold and to allow work to continue.
But the weather has not fazed the pride of the men in their work.
"It’s a great honor to work on a job of this magnitude and at a place like Princeton," stonemason Dominic Tulio said. "And the learning curve is a lot higher here than what we’re used to doing," he joked about working on site at the prestigious university.
The lasting quality of their works seems especially meaningful to the masons.
"I’m in awe working here. It takes you back when you think that this is going to be here for over 100 years," Mr. Curran said.
There is an appeal in leaving a legacy for stonemason Ray Gawronski.
"My grandkids will be able to see my work, and I’ll be long gone," he said.