Beamish

How did they do that?

Deconstruct Buildings

Open air museums are very different from the traditional museum in that they collect not only objects but also the original buildings in which they were used.  This is done only when the buildings are under threat and would otherwise be destroyed.  It enables Beamish to display its collections in an entire environment instead of a gallery.

Before a building can be deconstructed  it is important to have detailed drawings, photographs, measurements and video footage of the building, as these will be the only form of reference once the building has been taken down.

Each stone to be moved is checked against a drawing and then allocated a number on the drawing.  This number is chalked on the front face. This is used only as a guide until the stone can be taken off, cleaned of its old mortar and a number painted on the unpresented  face.   If mortar is not cleaned off to a solid surface, then there is a risk that in winter water will get into the cracks,  freeze, expand and break off a piece of stone, taking the number with it.

When coding the building during deconstruction certain numbers and letters must be avoided or used carefully.   A number ‘7’ can look like an ‘L’ if turned upside down, likewise ‘W’ and ‘M’ .  ‘X’,  ‘H’, ‘N’, ‘O’, ‘S’ and ‘Z’ can be put in the right position, but upside down.  These numbers and letters will be underlined to show their correct orientation.   During the rebuild the painted numbers will be hidden as each stone is put into the building;  the chalk numbers will eventually weather off.

Problems arise if the building to be deconstructed is high and several levels of scaffolding are needed.   Only certain parts of each feature can be taken out at each level as the scaffolding is gradually lowered.   This makes keeping track of each section more and more difficult as the work progresses.   All of the stones taken down are stored on pallets and a record kept of their location for the rebuild.

Many vertical measurements have to be recorded from a fixed point to assist the stonemason to keep within the height and vertical levels of the building. Measurements are taken to around one metre up and then from the same point to two metres up and so on. This ensures that the thickness of mortar between each course of stone is matched to the original building and does not, eventually, throw out the levels of the building.