COLORIZATION, CLEANING, AND RE-COLORIZATION OF MARBLE AND OTHER STONES IN A VICTORIAN MONUMENT: A CASE STUDY OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MONUMENT IN CLEVELAND, OHIO

It is now well-known that color was applied to marble and other stones in antiquity. We, however, describe colorization and re-colorization of marble in a later, Victorian-era monument, the 1894 Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument, in Cleveland, Ohio. Marble was used to clad most of the walls and ceilings, to frame bronze reliefs, and as flooring trim in this structure. Initial inspection of the white marble (Carrara or a very similar marble) showed remnants of color in a few places. Other white marble, however, including large marble tablets with names of soldiers and sailors, seemed to simply be discolored. Window frames appeared to be Sienna marble and flooring trim included white marble and gray limestone which had been painted black. Some sandstone was also colored.

Invoices recording the treatment of the marble used for this monument are lacking, but an 1896 booklet noted “colored marble” and a light-blue marble ceiling with green ribbing. A book published in 1899 also noted “handsomely colored marble walls.” As part of a search for additional historical information we discovered a forgotten 1894 newspaper account that described the production of the large marble tablets. According to this account, the tablets were first colored light yellow, then covered with wax. Thus most of the original yellow coloration of the tablets had either almost completely faded or was slowly removed via periodic cleaning over many years. The newspaper account noted that names of the soldiers and sailors were carved into the wax and that acid was used to etch the names into the stone (this acid and wax technique was once a trade secret, but was published in various sources by the mid-1800s; this use of wax and acid is analogous to today’s use of rubber mats and sand blasting).

Interior stone was cleaned in 2009, almost entirely with a latex-based product which was sprayed on and peeled off. “Sienna marble” window frames proved actually to be colored white marble. After cleaning, all of the stone was re-colored based on remnants of coloration, historical references, and the advice of an art expert. All coloration added is removable.

This project shows that faint remnants of coloration in such old buildings could, at first glance, be easily dismissed as staining, and it shows that Victorian dimension stone was, at times, extensively colored.