Wyo. Capitol Restoration Wins Top Pinnacles Honor

OBERLIN, Ohio – Restoration stonework on Wyoming’s state capitol topped the list of honorees in the 2021 Pinnacle Awards of Excellence from the Natural Stone Institute.

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates in Northbrook, Ill., won the Grande Pinnacle Award for its work on the historic seat of Wyoming’s government in Cheyenne. The project also is one of the Pinnacle winners in the Restoration/Renovation category.

The Wyoming State Capitol is a National Historic Landmark designed in the Renaissance Revival style. The building was constructed in three building campaigns completed in 1888, 1890 and 1917.  Over the years, the building’s Wyoming and Colorado sandstone suffered damage due to water exposure, weathering, and incorrect previous repairs.

A challenge of the project was to balance the necessary stone repairs to address life-safety and long-term performance, while preserving the original stone and providing an acceptable aesthetic appearance within an established budget. To accomplish this, the effort included accessing the original stone quarries to select new slabs matching the existing stone.  Stone Dutchman repairs were then shop-fabricated with standardized profiles and hand-carved and blended by stone masons in the field.

Stone repairs also included retooling in the field to replicate the historic appearance and improve slope on horizontal surfaces. Approximately 1,135 stone units were fabricated for the project.

Other 2021 Pinnacle award winners are:

Architectural Carving/Lettering/Sculpture

Caryatid Sculpture—The Missing Maiden of Karyai
Drama, Greece
Honoree: F.H.L.I Kiriakidis Marbles-Granites, Drama, Greece

Commercial Exterior

Charles Library at Temple University
Philadelphia
Honoree: Coldspring, Cold Spring, Minn.

Chateau Lynch-Bages New Bordeaux Winery
Pauillac, France
Honoree: VM Kaldorf, Titting-Kaldorf, Germany

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Honoree: Coldspring

Commercial Interior

Brookfield Place
Sydney, Australia
Honoree: Euromarble, Carrara, Italy

Corpus Christi Catholic Church
Aldie, Va.
Honoree: Rugo Stone, Lorton, Va.

New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital Center for Community Health
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Honoree: Jantile Specialties,  Armonk, N.Y.

Saint Paul of the Cross Monastery Renovation
Pittsburgh
Honoree: Rugo Stone


Public Landscapes/Parks/Memorials

Houston Botanic Garden
Houston
Honoree: Camarata Masonry Systems, Houston

Reconstruction for Lawyers’ Mall
Annapolis, Md.
Honoree: Rugo Stone

Renovation/Restoration

Hall of State Exterior Remediations
Dallas
Honoree: Dee Brown Inc., Richardson, Texas

Residential—Single Family


Memories Surround Me
Spokane, Wash.
Honoree: Ancient Art of Stone, Cowichan Bay, B.C.

Private Residence—Vail
Vail, Colo.
Honoree: Gallegos, Vail

Willow Court
Aspen, Colo
Honoree: Gallegos

Honorees received recognition during the Natural Stone Institute’s annual awards ceremony earlier this month at TISE in Las Vegas.

Sponsors of the 2021 Pinnacle Awards are: Marmomac (Grande Pinnacle Award), MAPEI (Commercial Awards), GranQuartz (Residential Awards), and Coldspring (Renovation/Restoration Awards).

To learn more about each project, visit www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/pinnaclewinners.

A full report on the 2021 Pinnacles will be in the March/April 2022 issue of Stone Update Magazine.