George
Wood
Work
Long Meadows is a historic property located in Washington County, Maryland. The property is listed on the National Historic Registry and with the Maryland Historic Trust.
Historic Long Meadows
I was asked to build a new front staircase based on a 70 year old photograph. The photo pictured a stair curved on both sides sweeping and rising to the columns of the Federal styled front porch.
I began by carefully measuring the existing porch. This provided a scale to assign dimensions to the staircase. I prepared a full side templace of the staircases' footprint and fastened that in place on site.
Stepping back to the approximate vantage with the photo in hand, I was able to compare the template dimensions with the photo. With settled dimensions, I was able to make detailed construction drawings, and layout further details on the full-size templates. The top photo shows the template suspended over the stair under construction.
All the parts of the staircase were crafted from rough-sawn plank. The treads and rails are made of Honduran Mohoghany. The stair stringers, risers and balusters are made of Spanish Cedar. The curved stringers and handrails were laminated against a full scale form in the wood shop.
The lamination required many clamps and several glue-up sessions. A two-part epoxy was used as two 1/4" strips were added to the form with each glue-up session. That's about a week of clamping, adding a couple pieces each session.
Careful planning and execution assured the assembly went smoothly. Each piece carefully cut to fit. The assembly was guided by templates fixed above the staircase (as shown in photo above).
For more information about the Maryland Historic Trust, please visit
Maryland Historic Trust.
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