JF Andrew House

The Mansion is located on Hereford Street in Boston's Backbay. The building was designed by Mckim, Mead and White and built by the Norcross Brothers in 1885. The building served as the Andrew’s family residence initially and currently owned by the Chi-Phi Fraternity (MIT).  The calcareous stone tesserae and medallions at the outside entrance had degraded. There was significant degradation and loss of the tesserae.  The majority of the tesserae were damaged to some degree. Approximately 30% of the red, yellow and green tesserae were damaged enough that replacement of the tesserae was recommended. There were numerous losses and cracks in the medallions. The damage was caused by exposure to an outdoor urban environment- freeze thaw cycles, de-icing salt and years of years of use all contributed to the degradation.

The surfaces was cleaned of soiling and accretions.

Working with the project architect we determined which tesserae should be removed and which should be stabilized. The most degraded tesserae were removed. Daedalus sourced matching stone, hand-cut and installed new tesserae integrating them with the original stones. Repairs we made to the medallion using a specialized mortar.

The surface was re-grouted and a protective coating was applied.