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Raising The Roof of Davidge Hall
If you are planning a visit to campus during the next few months, you’ll find the University’s most precious building, Davidge Hall, surrounded by scaffolding. While the building continues to function according to its normal schedule, significant repairs and an historic investigation lasting well into next year are underway.
On tap is replacement of the copper roof. Installed in 1963
and expected to last 100 years, the roof has failed after just 36 years due
to loss of protective patination, broken or open joints and inadequate provisions
for expansion and contraction. And while the University is committed to replacing
the copper roof, the replacement material has not received final approval
and will not until the results of a full blown substrate investigation are
completed by the Medical Alumni Association’s Architect, John G. Waite Associates.
"We recommend that the new roof closely resemble
the original one installed in 1812," says John G. Waite. "But
at this point the material and configuration of the original roof is still
a mystery. Many questions will be answered once the copper is peeled away
and we get a look at the original sheathing and framing."
Waite specializes in the restoration of historic landmarks. His work has included Homewood House and Evergreen in Baltimore, and he recently started work on the Basilica of the Assumption. Waite has also headed restoration projects for Mount Vernon and Monticello in Virginia, and The Octagon and Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. He is an expert on the work of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an early 19th century architect.
Apparently there was no attempt to research or investigate the details or materials of the original roof and skylight during the last replacement project in the 1960s. Despite the popular belief that the original dome was covered with wooden shingles, Waite thinks it may have consisted of small sheet metal pans with pole gutters or rainwater diverters incorporated into the design of the gable roof. "You have a time capsule up there," Waite said. "It should be a very interesting investigation, and the findings will be of national significance." If Waite is correct and the original roof did consist of small tinplate pans, the choice for the new roof is terne-coated stainless steel shingles, closely resembling the original fabric but expected to last much longer.
The findings could also help solve the controversy over
the identity of the building’s architect. For more than 150 years, scholars
have accepted the notion that the oldest building of the University System
of Maryland was designed by Robert Carey Long Sr. Records show that Long was
the master builder, but after researching the building in preparation for
developing a restoration plan, Waite said they could not locate any documents
pertaining to the architectural commission being given to Long. According
to Waite, the first reference to Long as the architect of Davidge Hall appears
in the 1823 Poppleton Map, long after those associated with the design and
construction had either left Baltimore or were deceased.
What the Waite firm did uncover in its research was information linking the building to Maximilian Godefroy, designer of the First Unitarian Church at Franklin and Charles streets and the Battle Monument on Calvert. Godefroy’s father-in-law was John Crawford, a professor at the medical college, and Waite has located a correspondence between Godefroy and Latrobe about Latrobe’s medical building design for the University of Pennsylvania, a direct antecedent of Davidge Hall with its one lecture hall atop another. Waite says the design of Davidge is consistent with Latrobe’s and Godefroy’s work, but Long apparently did nothing else similar before or after Davidge Hall. Long’s local projects include row houses on Hamilton Street and the Peale Museum on Holliday Street.
"In the early 19th century, Benjamin Latrobe and
Thomas Jefferson were among the few if not the only people in the United 
States
utilizing rectangular skylights," Waite added. "We expect
to find Latrobe-type skylights inside the wood frame of the dome based on
our previous investigations."
The investigation will also reveal the extent of damage to the dome from a fire of 1893. On December 2 of that year, a fire broke out in the Heiser Building, located at the corner of Paca Street and Cider Alley. The building abutted the laboratory building where an addition and remodeling had just been completed. The laboratory was destroyed, and the Baltimore American newspaper reported that Davidge Hall "was ablaze time and again, and only by very earnest work was it saved, after being damaged more or less by water." The cornice caught fire at one point, but the flames were extinguished. The reporter also noted that if Davidge "had not been protected with a new roof, it would have gone up in smoke." Some of the walls of the laboratory collapsed onto Davidge, and records from the faculty meeting shortly afterwards indicate that the fire "burned a large hole in the dome." The University is eager to detail the extent of the damaged wood frame.
In August, Oak Grove Restoration Company of Laytonsville, Maryland was named general contractor for the project. Their work includes renovation of the Hampton House in Towson, home to Captain John Ridgely; re-roofing Montpelier, home to James Madison; and St. Paul’s Church in Virginia. The entire project is expected to be completed in spring at a cost of under $1 million.
Davidge Hall was constructed in 1812 and is recognized as the oldest medical
teaching facility in the United States still in use. In 1997 the U.S. Department
of the Interior designated the building a National Historic Landmark.
Pictured Above: Davidge
Hall shortly before the fire of 1893.
Inset at Left: John G. Waite
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