2009 Excellence in Masonry Design Awards

Child Enterprises was recently awarded the "Honor & Best of Show" Award along with a "Golden Trowel" Award for the Utah State Capitol Building Restoration Project at the Utah Masonry Council's Excellence in Masonry Design Awards.

Project Description:

The Utah State Capitol Building is an icon in the State and a beautiful landmark in Salt Lake City. However, its years of service necessitated a major restoration effort. In addition, to providing greater resistance for the potential of a severe earthquake, a seismic upgrade was also completed. The primary structure of the building is constructed of local quarried granite while the upper dome is constructed of terra cotta. Specialized masonry restoration procedures such as patching, mortar repair, and cleaning were performed from top to bottom while much of the seismic upgrades came in the form of new anchorage systems. The two main focus areas for the stone structures were parapet reinforcement and column stabilization. Many of the historical terra cotta elements were removed, restored piece by piece, then reassembled and reinstalled as a panelized seismic assembly.

In collaboration with Kepco+, Child Enterprises began by painstakingly removing and cataloging historic terra cotta pieces from the upper and lower balustrades, the consoles, the mid-drum entablature, and the column capitals. Each piece was labeled so that it could be reinstalled in its exact historic location. The pieces were then moved to KEPCO+’s off-site facility and evaluated for either replacement or restoration and reinstallation.

In addition to the terra cotta restoration, Child Enterprises was also responsible for restoring the granite on the building. Such a scope comprises thorough cleaning, followed by patching, recoating, pinning, mortar tuck pointing, stone replacement where necessary, stone carving, crack repair, stain treatments, and the removal of damaging materials, such as ferrous anchors. Child Enterprises scope of work also included the reinforcing of the main roof granite parapet and the entry colonnades with new seismic anchorage systems. The parapet balustrade was disassembled, cataloged, repaired off site, and then reinstalled with a new stainless steel channel assembly. Stability was provided to the columns below the East, West, and South pediments by using a joint stabilization process that involved injecting epoxy at the joint locations into inner voids of the column using an involved pressurized injection system.

In addition to the expansive restoration work on the project, Child Enterprises also provided all new CMU work throughout the building and installed salvaged brick at the porte cochere. They installed cast stone elements as part of the site work as well as to replicate the historic stone fireplaces in the House of Representatives and the Senate.