Front Entry Refurbishment 2009/2010

Our first foray into upgrading the chapter house look was in the entry way.  This is the first space that potential new members see.  Our goal was to raise/restore the level of finish to show the beauty of the space and to set the bar for other key public spaces.  The result is an amazing transformation.  Scroll down to learn more about the project.

Completed Entryway - View to Exterior

 One of the greatest needs was the doors.  These are enormous mahogany doors - about 42" wide, 2.5" thick and quite tall.  The existing ones were badly weathered after many decades of Boston winters and southern sun exposure.  You don't just trot down to home depot to get new ones.  The carpenter that we chose for this job, Jeff Bairos, is someone that I've known since about 2003 when my brother and I owned a triple decker next door to him.  I got to see some of the amazing built ins that he was building for some of his projects at that point and later had him do some of the finish work on my own house in 2008-2009.  Jeff does all of his own work, so you know that it's going to get the level of professional attention that you need for high end work.  I stopped by his workshop the day he was assembling one of the doors.  Each side is its own piece with huge mortised joints bringing the whole assembly together.  We worked with a door hardware specialist to select appropriate hardware for both the historic look and size.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but the doors are actually supported primarily by pivots (think hinges on steroids) due to their size and weight.  The closers are also sized to the magnitude of the job; LCN makes nice ones that even have built-in hold open capabilities so that you don't need a rock anymore.

The paneling is mahogany.  We were able to salvage much of the original wood, but Jeff did have to manufacture a few panels and some trim.  The panels are finished with a gel stain technique that our Architect, Rebecca Berry, taught to the painting crew.

We did a replaced the tile floors and repaired the green marble baseboard in the process.  Interior Stone in Waltham was able to cut and hone the marble to the dimensions that we needed to replace pieces of the baseboard that were broken or missing.  The tile flooring is new stone mosaic with white tiles inserted for borders and to put our own "1832" stamp on the building.

We replaced all of the lighting with period-appropriate polished brass fixtures.  They do a good job of lighting the space up.  An exit light is a required feature, but Rebecca was able to find a subdued fixture in white and green that doesn't interfere too much with the rest of the design.

The birch flooring was sourced from a manufacturer in Vermont that was able to make both flooring and treads to match.  This dresses the space up a bit relative to the carpeting that used to feature in parts of the space.  The photo below shows how we continued the work up the stair.  It goes up to the 2nd floor landing so that the look is consistent for anyone walking through at the first floor level.

Completed Entryway - View to Interior