Restoration of the Kraft

January of 2006, just three years short of a century, the process of restoring the Kraft to her former beauty began.  It had seen much neglect for almost two decades, sitting on a huge lot surrounded by dead weeds in the summer, and the stone building growing lichens and moss in the winter..Looking abandoned, it was a target for kid’s graffiti, but other than that there was little vandalism.  Sadly, a number of leaks in the roof caused a fair amount of damage to the plaster walls, but the magnificent wood and plaster moldings were mostly unharmed.

Having been placed on the National Register of Historic Places (www.nationalregisterof historicalplaces.com/CA/Tehama/state.html) it was compulsory that the building be restored with as little change in appearance as possible.  To make certain this was accomplished we hired Robert Mackensen, a consulting preservation architect to oversee the project.  Having already taken a multitude of projects to completion for us, from restorations, to remodels and new construction, we knew Lloyd Dietrich was the person to oversee the project.  He is a craftsman in the truest and finest definition, and if Lloyd can’t figure out how to do it – it’s not possible.  When a problem would arise, if he did not have an immediate solution, he would say “let me think about it”.  You could feel the energy of his ‘wheels turning’, his eyes would light up, and he would say “I think we’ll try…”  My fondest memory of this modus operandi was when we needed to get electricity to the lights on the grand staircase.  The old conduit had rusted out, leaving no way to feed the new wire through three plus feet of stone.  Not one to be stopped by such a small problem, Lloyd studied it for a few minutes, said I’ll be back and took off in his truck.  Not too much later he returned with a drill bit nearly as tall as himself!  This brings me to the electricians who wired the massive building, Verlin and Mark Thomas.  When Lloyd got back, the three of them started drilling at an angle through the Colusa stone, to make a new channel for the conduit which had to reach inside the basement.  If you have ever seen the grand staircase you can imagine what that was like!  As you can see in the pictures, they were successful and our lamps light up beautifully at night.  As with any old building, the electrical can be a proverbial can of worms, and the Kraft was no exception.  – buildings made of stone and brick present a unique set of problems, and Verlin and Mark Thompson tackled them as just another small challenge.  To increase the level of difficulty, I knew our needs for electrical outlets exceeded most situations because of our extravagant Holiday Magic displays.  It takes a lot of electricity to light fourteen trees, and I had had my share of overloaded circuits at our previous location.  I was told that in all the commercial jobs they had ever done (which are many) they had never had one needing so many electrical outlets for a space that size.  It’s the Girl Scout in me I guess – always be prepared.  And three holidays later, we have yet to overload a circuit! 

Probably the most exciting part of the project was opening up the magnificent stained glass ceiling in the rotunda.  Originally there was a pyramid shaped skylight that stood over the glass allowing natural light to flood through the glass, into the building.  There were two known times the glass was covered, once during the World War II when many cities practiced blackouts, and then at a date late in its history.  Most likely because the skylight had begun to leak, the skylight was removed and demolished, and the opening in the roof was boarded over and hot-mopped, leaving a black hole above the glass.  At that point no artificial lights had been installed above the glass, so that was the last time the glass was seen lighted, until we had replaced the skylight and put the glass back in place. 

The first step of the process was removing the stained glass.  There are eight pie-shaped pieces that were gently lifted out and handed down 20 plus feet to the floor.  Remarkably, there are very few cracks in any of the glass and all it needed was a good cleaning, which was done with dawn dish soap and several toothbrushes.  Once the glass was out, the roof directly above it was removed.  After many phone calls and bids from across the country we found a very talented man in our own community, John Russo who said he could create what we needed.  It is a shame the skylight rests on top of the building where, for the most part it is unseen, because he created a beautiful piece of architecture clad in copper.  With the skylight in place, lights were installed to the sides, above the stained glass.  Because of the heat generated by the skylight being exposed on the top of the building, the enclosed area in the attic above the glass was vented.  We repainted all the iron straps that hold the pieces in place and it was time to put the glass back in.  With a crew of six we began moving the pieces back up the scaffolding and into place.  As with everything Lloyd does, the pieces went back with absolute precision.  There were many sighs of relief as everyone who was watching saw the last piece slide in, and the colors flooded the rotunda.

The first cosmetic project in the restoration was to re-plaster the entire inside of the main floor.  It had to be in keeping with the original look of the building and some of the plaster molding needed reconstructing.  Dennis Ellis, a drywall contractor took on the job and sent his master plasterer, Chris Jones to complete the project, which was not simple.  When working with old lath and plaster, trial and error is sometimes the only way to get the project done.  Gratefully, we had mostly trials and not too many errors (which are actually more mystery than error).  Everything was going well with a gorgeous coat of plaster on the walls, until we got to the rotunda, which became our nemesis. The first coat of plaster went on and looked perfect, until we got there the next morning.  Imagine coming in to find your new plaster pealing off like it was in the last stages of a nasty sunburn!  But with Dennis’s vast experience, a goo the color of Peptobismol and perseverance on the part of the crew, the rotunda was finished with a beautiful, smooth coat of plaster that leaves all emphasis on the stained glass.

The most difficult decision I had to make was choosing paint colors.  I have a passion for color and I don’t think there is one I don’t like.  It wasn’t as simple as picking a wall color.  There are three tiers of crown molding, columns and capitals to take into consideration, as well as the magnificent oak that encloses the walls.  Choosing just a couple colors would have been the easy way, but the options were endless and engrossing, and begged for a complex palette.  I spent a lot of time considering the choices, settling on a palette, only to change my mind.  I wanted it elegant, refined, subtle, a good background for the displays we would be putting in, and warm like the stained glass when infused with natural light.  I finally had the midnight moment – shells.  Shells have the colors and beauty Mother Nature is so perfect at bestowing.  They are the flowers of the sea, and like flowers, their colors weave in and out creating endless combinations which are in perfect harmony.  I called Paul Dotson, who is a master with color, paint and finishes.  We had already asked him to oversee the painting and finishes.  He came in, I gathered a box full of shells with colors I thought would work, and he started mixing paint.  We came up with five paint colors;  murex terracotta, mule’s ear rose, nautilus brown, peach conch, and tonna taupe.  While Paul was busy painting the walls and ceiling, our all women crew worked on painting the moldings and capitals.  In the end we determined it had taken us two hours per capital, painting them with mixed size brushes, starting with a medium watercolor brush - tedious, but infinitely satisfying when we were finished.  One can only hope it is many years before we need to repaint!

Six windows had to be completely replaced on the south side because the weather had damaged them beyond repair.  Again, Lloyd called his best cabinet maker Glenn Rudolph and he, his son Chris and brother Robert began the demanding task of rebuilding the windows.  The clathries in the transoms have 48 angles that had to be mitered.   As they finished them, they went to Paul Dotson for staining and varnish, who is the best colorist I have ever worked with when working with paints.  Thanks to these master craftsmen and Lloyd, they are so perfectly matched, it is almost impossible to tell the new from the old and they are a work of art.  For anyone reading this that enjoys decorating with florals, I should mention the lower mantles.  I knew they would not be deep enough for the designs I would be creating.  I asked Robert if he could make a board to match the original mantles that would overlay them (and attach without harming the originals).  To this day, unless I tell the secret, know one knows they aren’t 100 years old – and I’m thrilled because my florals can be as elaborate as I want to create them, especially for Holiday Magic when “more is more”!

The floors, covered with battleship linoleum and asphalt tiles were not in good shape.  Upon ripping it all out we discovered beautiful, unfinished, Douglas fir floors.  Rather than cover them back up we opted to finish them and Lloyd contacted Hanes Floor Inc., to finish them.  The worst part of the process was removing the asphalt tile which had been glued down with a black paste that defied removal.  The tiles were chipped out with ‘dynamite’ and then were sanded with a sandpaper that appeared to have small size gravel embedded.  Eventually Lloyd had all the various holes in the floor patched in a manner that made them barely noticeable and the floors were sanded smooth.  There are few transformations any more stunning to watch than natural wood coming alive with color as the varnish is applied.  Unfortunately, Doug fir is very soft and becomes distressed quite quickly, but the floors are still beautiful, aging to fit the rest of the old building.  The other issue we have faced by not using an over-layment of some kind is the construction.  The floors are comprised of the Doug fir running parallel to the front of the building and a sub floor running diagonally, with no ceiling between the floors.  When a customer spills a cup of cider on the floor it has been known to trickle onto our design benches downstairs.  A rather sticky situation!  Someday we will finish the basement with a ceiling which will take care of the cider and the thunder of heavy feet and high heeled shoes when the upstairs gets very busy.  Old buildings are filled with idiosyncrasies – its just part of their charm.

Three of the five original bookshelves remain in the building, testament to myriad books that once kept everyone’s attention.  The other two were dismantled and stored for the future, should I someday win the lottery and have the resources to return the building to its educational roots as a library.

The three fireplaces, used for decades to heat the building were in excellent condition.  We gave the strap iron around the edges of the fireboxes, which were clean, a new coat of black paint.  There wasn’t a single tile missing which is remarkable for a 100 year old building.  It is interesting how many visitors we talk with that frequented the library have no recollection of the fireplaces, or may remember only one of them.  Our guess is that once the fireplaces were no longer in use, bookshelves or tables were put in front of them.  When cleaning out the ash boxes in the basement we found remains of a few books and magazines, possibly used as a method for making room for other books, or an act of desperation for more heat?!

Final steps included reproduction registers for the air conditioning ducts in the ceiling.  Brian Dunbar machined beautiful brass plates for the front doors to finish the edges. On a whim, we had stopped into a lighting showroom while buying Christmas merchandise in Dallas and found a perfect replacement for the old fluorescent lights we had removed.  I suspect Lloyd, Verlin and Mark thought they would never see the end of them as they installed all 16.  Not reproduction, and having no idea what the original lighting might have been prior to the middle of the 20^th century, the ones we used seem to fit the building and feel as if they might have been hanging for a good long time.  Security and fire alarms, hand rails for the stairs and an extensive cleaning had the inside of the building ready for guests.

The outside of the building needed some attention as well.  The Colusa sandstone, harvested not far from Red Bluff, is quite porous and years of neglect had allowed lichens and moss to get a good foothold in the stone, particularly on the shady side of the building.  With my love of nature and working with natural materials in my designs, I rather liked the texture they gave the building, however lichen is one of the things that deteriorates rock in nature, turning it into part of the soil.  Not a particularly good thing for stone as soft as sandstone.  A scissor-lift, hose and high power washer, with a careful hand on the spray, removed all the vegetation, along with decades of grime. 

The window frames were scraped, sanded, puttied and painted a color to blend in with the bricks and stone.  Paul Dotson refinished the oak doors and surrounds that had been badly weather damaged, bringing them back to their former stateliness. A copper flashing was machined to cover the parapet, preventing any further sloughing of the sandstone.

Removing the graffiti on the outside of the building was no simple task.  Straight acetone and paint thinner wouldn’t pull the paint out of the porous stone.  A substantial amount of research turned up a product called Elephant Snot (looks just like what one might imagine).  Combined with a generous amount of elbow grease, the goo got most of the paint off the building and we have been blessed to have had the building left alone since occupying it.

It was time for the final stages of the project which included yards and yards of concrete.  We were grateful to have Leroy Miller and his crew, create new sidewalks to replace parts of the old ones that had lifted and deteriorated, and put in our parking lot.  I learned many years ago, it is critical to have a very qualified team if you want it done correctly and attractively, and so that the water runs off in all the right directions.  Our delivery companies are especially happy with it.  There is a great view of it from the windows in the back room of the main floor, which we now call the cottage room.  To finish the parking area Rich Lehman’s crew laid the asphalt and striped the area surrounding the concrete.   Troy Jones and his team built a very nice garbage enclosure which provides a nice background for our gardens. 

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With the finishing touches being done to the building, I finally got to start on the gardens.  A massive amount of dirt was moved to build the berms, creating an alcove to surround the lawn area.  The 800 pound picnic tables were then lifted into place and the planting began.  The crew from the Job Training Center was instrumental in successfully getting all the plants in the ground during a heat wave.  I had been collecting plants for several years and they were incredibly happy to be in their new home.  Irrigation was installed and then the sod was rolled out - just like carpeting a house, it pulls everything together in one fabulous flourish.  Now, two and a half years later, the gardens are lush and filled with a multitude of unusual plants including lots of flowering ones, putting on a beautiful show for all every year. 

Lloyd turned 83 years old in the middle of the restoration, and I can verify that there was not a single person that could climb the 20 plus foot scaffolding any faster than he.  His lovely wife Lebrita was not to know of his ‘escapades’, climbing around places that made my stomach flip (but as many wives do, I’m sure she just pretended not to know and prayed a lot).  With his uncanny balance, Lloyd is like a cat, when there is a need, he goes anywhere he wants.  In over sixty years of building, I am fairly certain this was the first time (with the exception of his subs) he had a nearly all female crew to direct.  Prior to the restoration our job titles varied from sales assistants, gardeners, and teachers to floral designers and several other talents in between.   Although we have many skills between us, lots of the things we tackled with the restoration were completely new to us.  Lloyd had the patience of Job.   He taught us what we didn’t know, helped us over the stumbling blocks and showed us how to fix our mistakes (Not that we made many of course.)  I can’t imagine how a project like the Kraft could be accomplished without someone like Lloyd, who balances current technology with old world craftsmanship and was dedicated to restoring the building to its original perfection.  It was a long, at times arduous task, but ultimately, bringing the Kraft back to the stately edifice Elizabeth Kraft gave to Red Bluff brought much joy in the process and was incredibly satisfying.  It is with heartfelt thanks that we acknowledge the dedication, precision and perfection all those involved gave to the restoration of the Kraft Memorial Free Library building.