Project Showcase

Originally constructed in 1917, the Oheka Castle Hotel and Estate was purchased by its current owner in 1983 in a dilapidated state and has been under restoration since 1987. The record states that archived photographs and historical details guided the return of the buildings and grounds to their original state.

Precast stone was considered first; when the architect found that authentic Indiana limestone would cost less than precast, the original design and integrity were kept within budget. Accurate job-site measurement and precision fabrication in long lengths eased installation of the reflecting pools. The formal gardens and reflecting pool were renovated in Standard Buff stone.

Completed in 2008 at a site the record describes as the finish line of the Boston Marathon, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston incorporates over 18,500 cubic feet of Indiana limestone in Standard Buff. More than 65 truckloads of stone arrived with almost no staging area, and over 40 bricklayers and stone setters were at work at any point in time.

The appearance comes from smaller stone units than a building this size usually carries, much of the stone fabricated with six-cut tooling to balance rough and smooth faces across three stone types. Setters began laying stone on the fourth floor and returned to complete the first three once the building base was finished. The installers, quoted in the record, point to the building as an example of what can be accomplished with natural stone.

An engineering feat coordinating a steel structure with stone, the monument at the University of Illinois in Springfield was completed in July 2005 in Standard Buff stone with a smooth finish — Indiana limestone in one of the more challenging applications in the record.

The installing crew is quoted on the fit: “All of the stone fit together really well and looked good after installation. Very little work had to be done to change the stone to fit the steel and the site conditions.” The project manager called it a successful job for all.

A residence just south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania carries a contemporary colonnade in Indiana limestone, completed in 2006. The stones were designed and sculpted at the fabricator over a two-month period, then installed by a five-man crew in just over ten days. With the structure nearly fifteen feet tall and one entire side free-standing, stability in wind gusts was the record's noted installation challenge.

The columns are Monolithic Doric — one solid piece including the base, with minimal fluting for a clean look, in the manner of the columns of the Greek Parthenon. They stand on a base wall four feet high and over seventy feet in length.

A private-residence portfolio recording the landscape line in service, captioned product by product in the original showcase. Finished goods and landscape materials in a variety of colors and sizes: pool coping, pavers, caps, steppers, treads, and walls.

Paving, coping and treads are catalogued under Landscape Stone; wall and pier caps under Trim & Accent; the veneer under Rockford Estate Blend.

Detail drawings documenting Vanderbilt Classic® veneer installation were published in the original showcase. They survive in the record only below this site's reproduction floor, and none have been substituted. The maintained set — wood stud, metal stud and concrete block construction, with foundation, parapet, floor line and shelf angle, expansion joint, and window and door details — is held under Technical Data and on the Vanderbilt Classic page.