Photographic documentation of the stonework was important to the restoration. The left side of this photo of the Stone House shows the deteriorated stonework (compared to the right hand side of this wall, due to the failing foundation.
all images David Murray
Skilled Scorpio Masonry stonemasons rebuild the walls exactly as the documentation before de-construction indicates.
the conservation of expertise There is almost no record of who the first Alberta masons were who worked in stone. It is an ancient skill and many masons brought their expertise to Alberta as immigrants. The fine restoration work that was accomplished at Lac La Biche and later at the Keillor farmstead was provided by Scorpio Masonry from Edmonton. Over the years, I have worked with Scorpio’s specialist masons who have the skills to work with the cutting , splitting and setting of stone. On many historic projects I have counted on the skills of their tradesmen. Mike Ambrosic, founder of Scorpio Masonry, was actually trained as a tool and dye maker in Yugoslavia, came to Canada in 1961, then went through an apprenticeship program in Moose Jaw working for Pockar Brothers Masonry. He then went on to be the site foreman on numerous Alberta masonry projects before starting Scorpio Masonry. Chris Ambosic, Mike’s son writes: Fieldstone masonry is very much an artisan skill that is slipping away. The last new field stone project we did was in Saskatchewan in 2006, the University of Saskatchewan Kinesiology Building. We harvested large dolomite boulders from farmers around Saskatoon, sent them to Edmonton for cutting and splitting, all by blades and hydraulic splitting. 2
A new, deeper, more functional basement was constructed under the Stone House. The process is that the building was set on girders and lifted in situ , and the basement build underneath. The deteriorated stone work was then repaired.
conserving historic building materials The heritage value of the Keillor buildings is associated with both the intangible history of Dr. Keillor and the tangible building materials, including the windows, doors and log- supported roof, all of which were fully restored. The Keillor fieldstone construction stands out as the most prominent of the building materials and was also the most challenging to restore convincingly. Historic stone construction in Alberta is relatively rare. The Keillor buildings remain some of the best examples of stone construction in Alberta. *
DAVID MURRAY is an architect in Edmonton specialising in the conservation of historic buildings and their materials, in both Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Each project has benefited from the expertise of masons and carpenters, as well as the support of enlightened municipal and provincial heritage programs.
2 In northeastern Alberta and east-central Saskatchewan, dolomite outcrops are found in shield-marginal lowlands.
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on site review 48 :: building materials
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