There are two possible questions to go with this particular scan from my collection of old negatives. The first is, should old buildings be cleaned? There is an argument which says that power-washing the dirt, soot and grime off these fine old Victorian stone buildings is the architectural equivalent of a face-lift: momentarily interesting but, in the long term, depressingly invasive. However, I am putting off such a debate for a sunnier day in order to concentrate on the second, slightly more prosaic, question: when was Halifax Town Hall stone cleaned? I have combed through the copious wisdom of Uncle Google without pinning an exact date down. The date may remain a mystery, but I am pretty certain of the time: five to eight in the morning (or, just possibly, in the evening!)
Now that you've introduce a reaction option, I hope no one gives your post on Auntie Miriam a dislike. I'm not sure what redress she has from the next world, but knowing Auntie Miriam she's sure to find a way of getting her own back.
ReplyDeleteAs it's a sunny day here in the Caribbean I will skip the scaffold and concentrate on what causes deterioration of stonework in old buildings. Power washing for one, road salts for another and last, but not least, re-pointing a building dating before the mid-nineteenth century with cement mortar rather than a lime based mortar. All the more damage is done when the original narrow masonry joints - so narrow that you can't get your cap neb between - are widened to accommodate re-pointing.