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The
image below is a small portion of the coffered ceiling in the San Antonio
City Council Chamber. This photograph was taken from the floor thirty five
feet below. Each octagonal coffer is about four feet across. The rosette
in the centers is twenty eight inches diameter. There are one hundred twenty
nine of these coffers in the ceiling. Each of these were cast individually
on the ground, and then hung in place during the time of the original construction.
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Battersby
Ornmntl recast and replaced about one dozen of the large rosettes. They
are unusual in that they are done in a five sided pattern. Most of the
ornaments I have seen have been multiples of four. Many of the rosettes
needed to be resecured as they were near falling out due to workers stepping
on them while in the crawl space above. There is an image published here
below that shows a rosette as it was cast by Battersby Ornmntl.
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The
smaller diamond shaped coffers are each about sixteen inches across. In
their centers a floral design appears with a stylized artichoke hanging
down. Many of these were missing, and we recast and replaced them. These
smaller coffers were put into place after the larger coffers were hung,
connecting them. In the area above the mayor and council members' seating,
downlighting was specified by the architects, Rehler, Vaughan, Beaty &
Koone, Inc. This presented a serious problem due to the fact that the area
above these small coffers was very restricted with the channel iron and
hanger wire structure securing the large coffers. The light cans for the
high tech halogen lighting were too tall and too wide to fit. I solved
this problem by implanting spreader bars in the structure above, and removing
the centers of the small coffers. Then I remodeled this area to accept
the square recessed light fixtures. When I cast these new pieces
stainless steel bolts were cast in to receive the fixtures. The end result
was a nice clean installation.
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Through
the years many areas in the ceiling had been damaged from leaking plumbing
above. All of these areas were duplicated and replaced, or repaired in
place freehand.
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Cisi
Jary and Pam Rosser regilded and repainted all the polychromed areas on
the ceiling and the entire lobby.
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