STATUS OF MARBLE BOWING AND COLORATION INSIDE AN 1894 CIVIL WAR MONUMENT SINCE ITS 2006–2010 REHABILITATION

Before its 2006–2010 rehabilitation, only parts of the marble inside the Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument retained some original coloration. The circa. 2.3-m high marble tablets inside the Monument were a dingy gray, and each was bowed to some extent, the maximum being 26.4 mm from the vertical. There were great differences in temperature between the front and backs of the tablets. Using the hypothesis that hysteresis was caused by differential temperatures aided by humidity, re-bending of the panels was considered but not done. A new heating system including deflectors to deter high temperatures behind the panels, air conditioning, and humidity control were added to the monument to forestall additional deformation. This did reduce humidity and temperature differentials between the lower and upper parts of the panels. However, since rehabilitation, monument doors have had to be opened during some periods of high humidity, there have been leaks from above, and the basement has flooded. Re-measuring a sample of tablets in December of 2024 closely, but not exactly, tracks measurements taken in 2007, so measures to stabilize temperature and humidity controls may have forestalled further deformation.

Marble coloration has not been as successful. Just before rehabilitation, parts of the white marble used inside retained some original color but most of the marble did not. During rehabilitation, marble in the monument, after been cleaned with an application of latex containing a commercial product, was sealed with clear acrylic, then tinted (colored), and sealed again. Traces of remaining color and historic information, especially from an 1894 Cleveland newspaper article, were used to select colors. The paint applied to the marble has visibly faded since application in 2010. This is especially true for the red used for parts of the monument. The application of paint to the marble has proved to be ephemeral, as it was previously.