Lyme Art Association · Old Lyme, Connecticut

Lyme Art Association

The gallery the Lyme Art Association opened in 1921, to Charles A. Platt’s design, re-shingled and re-trimmed one elevation at a time while its galleries stayed open.

Centerbrook Architects’ bid set for the exterior rehabilitation, their project 1508, is dated July 28, 2017. It splits the work into three phases by elevation because the Association occupied the building for the whole job. The outline specification sets the working day at 7 to 5 on weekdays and asks for 72 hours’ notice before anything that would affect the galleries.

The work was in kind. Every shingle was replaced, and the rake, frieze, soffit, window and door trim was replaced to the existing profiles and sizes. The square vents in the upper walls became louvers with insect screens and a removable panel on the inside face, so each can be closed off by hand. The gutters went back as half-round with round downspouts.

The rear balcony and its stair came off and a code-compliant egress deck and stair replaced them, with a 44-inch clear path. The walkway to the front door was rebuilt.

One note on the elevations, sheet A3.0, points at a single letter in the name across the front of the building. It reads: re-invert “S”.

Before, July 2017

A white-railed balcony on posts at the back of the shingled building, a parking area beyond — The rear balcony. It came off for a new egress deck and stair.

A weathered, split beam end with peeling paint resting on a stone pier under the balcony deck — The balcony framing where it met the stone pier.

A dark, weathered shingled gable with small square vents and a round vent at the peak — The north gable, the balcony at the right.

A dark shingled gable end with square vents in the wall and a slatted louver in the painted pediment — Another gable end: square vents in the wall, a slatted louver in the pediment.

II.

Off and back on

A white louvered vent with a wide flat casing set in fresh cedar shingles — November 2017. One of the new louvers, set in new cedar shingles.

The front of the gallery covered in blue weather barrier behind scaffolding, the arched entry and pediment trim in place — April 2018. The front stripped to the sheathing and wrapped.

The finished front entry: new cedar shingles, a white pediment with a round vent, an arched fanlight over blue double doors, white trellises at either side — May 2018. The same view, finished.

III.

In kind

A gable end in new cedar shingles with a white pediment, round vent, square vents and a trim band across the wall — February 2018. The gable from chapter I, re-shingled, a round vent in the pediment.

A pedimented side entrance with an arched opening and blue double doors in new cedar shingles, skylights on the roof behind — February 2018. A side entrance, new shingles and trim, the skylit roof behind.

A walkway excavated to gravel between planting beds, a plate compactor in the foreground and a mini excavator beyond — May 2018. The walkway to the front door, dug out and compacted.

A new wood stair with wood rails and a stainless handrail, rising beside the shingled wall to a deck — September 2018. The new egress stair.

Old painted cornice trim marked in black ink with its dimensions: this board is 1/2 thick, 1/2 inch bead, 1 3/4 to top of bead

Measured before it came off

The original cornice, November 2017, with its dimensions written on it in marker: this board is 1/2 thick, a half-inch bead, one and three-quarters to the top of the bead.

The profile was recorded on the piece before it was removed, so the new trim could match it.

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