Blackwell House at its recent best, in the Spring.

Blackwell House will get a fresh look by summer, if all goes according to schedule.

A restoration project will replace the landmark’s roof, replicate and stabilize its porch, fix siding and doors, and repair other infrastructure. Page Ayres Cowley Architects, LLC, is handling the architecture, and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation is paying the bills. The budget for the work, which began last June after some four years of planning, is $1.18 million. According to those in charge, the project is on track to being completed on time.

"I think the result will be pleasing," said Page Ayres Cowley. "We will keep what we can and we will replicate what was missing that we were able to salvage. I think the overall impression will be one of a quality restoration project. That’s the goal."

Blackwell House was built in 1796, when the Island was owned by the Blackwell family. The City bought the Island in 1828. In the 179 years since, the house has been used for a variety of purposes. According to Judith Berdy, president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society (RIHS), the house was used by top administrators and doctors from the different institutions on the Island until the mid 1950s, when those institutions moved off of the Island. It was then abandoned until the State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) took over the Island in 1969. Architect Giorgio Cavaglieri was contracted to restore Blackwell House, as well as the Island’s other landmarks. Various groups used it after that, including RIHS and RIOC’s predecessor agency. It was the site of weddings, bar mitzvahs, and holiday parties.

"When you have a building that was a superintendent’s house, a private residence, an office space, and then abandoned for years, it’s very hard to decide what to do," said Cowley. In that situation, she explained, the building is looked at holistically and it is determined how much of the original material is remaining and can be salvaged. Then, the architect will work to remain faithful to the current structure rather than making significant changes.

"In other words, I’m not going to make the decision that we should lop off a railing because it’s inconsistent," said Cowley. "This is what we have to work with and this will be the beginning of the restoration. I’m using what I’ve been given to fix, to put it back into public service."

Cowley met with Cavaglieri when planning for this restoration project. He told her that he was subject to many budget cuts during his project. One significant cutback was use of ready-made rather than custom-fit windows. As a result, the windows can’t be opened today.

"The good news is that we are fixing things that were budget cuts back in the 1970s," said Cowley. "We’ve made the big decision to go for custom-made windows. We are spending about a third of the budget on windows, and that’s to make it look right."

The biggest change that Cavaglieri made on the house was that the entire north wing was removed.

"That is a drastic move," said Cowley. "I will make sure the building doesn’t leak, and I will make sure that everything in there that we put on the exterior is working. But with preservation philosophy today, in terms of taking a building back to a certain period of time, we would think very carefully about removing a wing."

In the early part of the last Century, Blackwell House had a large north wing. It was removed in a 1970s restoration.

"When they did the restoration in the 1970s, it seemed more like a rebuilding than a restoration," said Berdy. "Some parts are authentic, and the others they just did whatever they wanted to do."

One problem demanding attention is the roof – it’s leaking. Many factors have contributed to that, so repairs are not as simple as patching up a hole or replacing some shingles. Catherine Johnson, the RIOC Vice President who served as project leader for two years, said, "The issue with the roof is that it is actually coming off. It will be replaced." That decision was made to give the roof a "proper structural framing," according to Cowley.

In the 1970s, a centralized air conditioning and heating unit was installed under the roof. The unit had a series of metal trays that collected the condensation water. Over time, they corroded and leaked. As if that weren’t enough, about two years ago, the sprinkler system discharged automatically and sprayed water everywhere. It watered the entire building, which had been warm. The water was absorbed into the structure, including the roof. Cowley says the result is rot. "When something starts to rot, it’s like a disease that starts to enlarge that side," she said. "The problem is, it’s cumulative; one thing affects the other, and then you have to make a decision – what will our preservation philosophy be, and what will our approach be?"

The gutters have caused problems as well. They are very tight to the house, so when there is a heavy rain flow, the water tends to overflow down the siding of the house. New gutters will be mounted farther out to prevent that, Cowley said.

2005

"The leaking that’s going on will stop, as well as the deterioration of the exterior portions," said Johnson. "The most important things will be the things that you really won’t see, which are going to help the house stay intact for the long-term."

What you will see, though, is that the exterior color will be different, and the house will have shutters on it as the original did.

"The house won’t be blue because blue was somebody’s choice color," said Johnson. "It has nothing to do with the original color of the house."

During preparatory research, a process called chromachronology was used to try to locate the original paint on the house. Layers of paint are counted and bundled to determine what generation they are from. "For most paint specifications of our time, it’s a primer and at least one coat of paint, if not two," said Cowley. "And we count back in time and bundle them. You won’t have a dirt layer between three layers of paint [from the same time period]. When you hit a dirt layer, you know that you’re at a generation."

In recent years, deterioration has been most evident in a sagging roof and on the porch, facing Queens.

But chromachronology gets complicated because wood tends to change tints as it ages. In addition to studying visual cues, the planning group used historical knowledge. "The decisions, even if it’s the paint, are being made based on some historical relevance," Johnson said. "If we can’t determine it from the house, then other historical information will guide us about what would have been appropriate at the time."

The planning group looked at other buildings in the area from the same time period, asked preservation groups what they found when conducting their restoration projects, and even spoke with one of the descendents of the Blackwell family at a meeting of the Roosevelt Island Historic Society, who believed that the house had been white.

"We decided to err on the side of caution," said Cowley. "We built into the documents a three-color program with the idea of white as the basis. And if we find any physical evidence about this particular property, then we would revise it. For the doors, we’re going for a dark green. It will make sense, aesthetically, when you look at the building – that this is a period piece."

The front porch, as it currently stands, needs to be removed because it has deteriorated significantly. It will be replicated as closely as possible by using the same materials.

"The decision was that where we are able to replicate, where we know what the material is, we’re putting it back," said Cowley.

The restoration budget isn’t adequate to cover any interior work but, said Johnson, "The [RIOC] Board decided to move forward on the exterior renovation because we had leaking problems and the house was in very poor repair. If we ever plan any reuse of the interior space, the exterior really needed to be addressed first." There are no plans to use the interior, she said, adding that use of the interior space couldn’t be considered without first stabilizing the exterior.

"One of the things that all understood about this project was that we didn’t have a budget that would allow us to do everything that needed to be done for this house," said Johnson. So while there is a lot of work under way, there is a lot of work that needs to be done."

"This gives longevity to the house that it hasn’t had in a very long time," said Johnson. "The building has doors now, and options."