Saving the past—on a budget

Interior designer Mary Waite and the Dining Services staff members at Stockwell Hall wanted to continue having Stickley windsor chairs in the dining hall.

Phil Reed reassembles a chair from the Stockwell dining hall. It is one of about 250 chairs, including many of the Stickley windsor style, Reed is restoring. (Photo by Paul Jaronski, U-M Photo Services)

But many of the chairs at the hall—some of which were original to the 1940 building—had fallen into disrepair. Some were in a pile in the basement, having been placed on the injured reserve list due to broken legs.

Replacing all 224 chairs with replicas from Stickley would be cost-prohibitive. The chairs, from the renowned Stickley Brothers Furniture Co. known for its Arts and Crafts style of furniture, would cost about $600 each, for a total of $134,400.

Waite and others came up with an idea that was budget-conscious and mindful of the importance of historical preservation. They sent the chairs to the campus Upholstery Shop, where Phil Reed, upholsterer III, has repaired and refurbished the Stickleys and other chairs from the dining hall since last year.

"They look great," says Waite, an interior designer with Housing Design Service, an office that focuses on the architectural, interior design and engineering needs of the residence halls. "He's really done a nice job. We wanted to retain the chairs because they're original to the building and they fit with the architecture, and we've done that."

Waite has $21,000 to spend on the project—a fraction of the cost of replacing the chairs. She estimates that about half of the 250 chairs Reed is repairing are Stickleys, and the other half are other types that have a similar look.

Reed is finishing the last batch of chairs. He disassembles them with a rubber mallet, cleans out old glue in the joints, replaces missing or broken pieces, reglues the joints, reassembles the chairs, and clamps the parts into place. Then he washes the frames with mineral spirits and applies an oil stain finish to restore the wood.

"It's a 100 percent improvement," he says.

The restoration of the chairs is documented on the Upholstery Shop's Web site at http://www.plantops.umich.edu/construction/shops/Upholstery/samples.html.

In addition to Waite and Reed, others involved in the project are Sandy Lowry and Victoria Ponitz of University Housing's Dining Services at Stockwell.