Preservation vs. Restoration at Brooklyn’s Historic Green-Wood Cemetery
Neela Wickremesinghe (in safety-green), a specialist in architectural and historical conservation at Green-Wood Cemetery
We always know it’s going to be a fascinating project when we hear from Neela Wickremesinghe, a specialist in architectural and historical conservation. She’s the on-site conservator at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. Neela fascinates me; she’s part renegade archeologist, digging up chunks of history, and part restoration/preservation artist putting those pieces back together.
Green-Wood is a National Historic Landmark, known just as much for its 478 acres of rolling hills, mature trees, and several ponds as it is for its place in history as one of the first rural cemeteries in the United States.
With the cemetery’s founding in 1838 and more than 570,000 burials, Neela is always juggling multiple projects in the field and inside her team’s shop on the grounds. Her expertise is essential to the ongoing preservation efforts of the cemetery. She puts her unique touch to stately mausoleums and grand monuments, as well as the simplest of headstones — including one we worked on together last fall.
Unlike a restoration where we would want to return this modest headstone to its original appearance, Neela’s goal was to preserve its historical integrity and make it strong enough to return to the cemetery grounds.
Little of the original headstone remained, although a section contained the carving “1812.” Interestingly, the headstone actually predates the cemetery. So much of Neela’s world is a mystery. It could be connected to the construction of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, which cut through several cemeteries and required the relocation of many headstones.
With this project, you can see the damage and delamination of the stone. The headstone was mostly buried for a very long time, and the moisture and salt were destroying the stone. We began with our Bio-Cleaner to remove the biological stains, which revealed the stone’s original color. There were sections too delicate to clean, so we left those as is.
Using our M31 and M32 injection grouts, Neela attached the broken pieces within the sections we rebuilt with our Jahn M70 Brownstone Repair Mortar. Neela and her team use our injection grouts because of their compatibility with the historic stone. These grouts are soft enough not to cause any further problems, whereas an epoxy can expand and contract and act like a wedge pushing the repaired section away from the stone.
This was just one of our many collaborative projects at the Green-Wood Cemetery with Neela. We look forward to working alongside her whenever the opportunity arises and will be highlighting other projects with her and her team here in the future.
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