The Pelham Preservation Society, in cooperation with the Pelham Board of Education, completed an ambitious project to restore the lobby of Pelham Memorial High School. Designed by the firm of Tooker & Marsh, PMHS is considered one of the most significant Collegiate Gothic Style buildings in Westchester County. The lobby had been painted in non-historic colors with unsympathetic lighting. Pelham Preservation retained the services of EverGreen Architectural Arts, which conducted paint analysis of all surfaces of the lobby, examined the Art Deco WPA bas-relief and analyzed the memorial bronze plaques dedicated to the servicemen from Pelham who gave their lives in WWI and WWII. From this analysis and the study of historic photographs, a paint and glazing scheme was assembled for the lobby. The PMHS restoration project was coordinated with other work undertaken at PMHS by the Pelham School District and was completed as part of the final phase in the summer of 2010.
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At the time of its creation, the bas relief was a neutral white, but was at some point painted gold, which limited the shadow effects of the relief and hid many of the details. The restoration by the Pelham Preservation Society involved removing the gold paint and returned the relief to its original color, using a special electrostatic paint imported from Germany, designed for works of art. The paint has a reverse charge that repels dirt.
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2010 Restoration
The PMHS library has been restored with new oak book cases, new oak library tables and wool carpet. The WPA murals at each end, which were restored through a community fundraising effort, were properly covered and conserved during the restoration project. The ceiling beams shown here have been restored and acoustical tiles removed and replaced with materials more in keeping with this historic structure.
The canopy over the front doors of PMHS was severely corroded, requiring new steel structure. The glass and decorative elements have been restored so that the canopy has its original appearance.