New Project!!!!

Professio by Matt Henson, Inc. is pleased to announce that we have started work on the precious Hipolito F. Garcia Federal building and U.S. courthouse located directly across the street from the Alamo in San Antonio Texas. We are proud to be a part of the team that The Beck Group put together for the restoration of this stately building.  We are responsible for protecting and restoring the historically significant interior portions of the building including the ornamental plaster, flat plaster, decorative paint finishes and protecting the large Howard Cook fresco mural in the entry lobby. See the photo.

One of our first tasks is to do an analysis of the original paint finishes. This will require careful removal of the paint to expose the first layer without damaging the surface of the subsequent layers of paint, thus giving us the opportunity to color match the paint that will be applied to these areas. It never ceases to amaze me that when all the original colors are put back into their places, these old buildings just seem to come back to life. All the elements from the chandeliers to the mechanical grill covers to the tile floors will once again work in concert to bring back to life the genius of designers Ralph Cameron and Paul Cret. Paul Cret is best known in Texas as the designer of the Main building and Tower on the University of Texas campus in Austin Texas.

Another part of our contract is protecting the mural. This mural is one of the largest frescoes in the United States. It can be easily damaged by dust created during reconstruction. Most of the dust around job sites come from cutting and sanding. Most of the surfaces are alkaline such as concrete, masonry mortars, plaster, drywall and drywall mud. We have to install protection over the mural to insure that these elements will never come in contact with the fragile paint surface. The protection will also have to be installed in such a way that it will not damage the surface. Delicate work with lots of precautions. Extra levels of caution are in order here and we will have professional conservators inspecting and advising on the work through the process.

Next we will need to devise a plan to cut into the existing plaster finishes to provide access to run new electrical systems, fire alarms, and fire sprinkler piping. We will be researching the framing and structural elements and develop a plan that will minimize the destruction of historic fabric and prevent causing additional damage. A lot of restoration projects fail to do this and disaster happens. Without due diligence, a structural ceiling could fail resulting in a loss of historically significant elements as well as risking the lives of workers below.

As you can see, it takes a lot of preplanning and looking at all the possibilities of failure and providing safeguards to create a environment where we are reasonably comfortable that, beyond an acute catastrophe, the building will be safe from any additional harm.

We will keep you informed on our process including photos if the GSA will let us.