City hires specialized contractor to save home of renowned painter
COVINGTON, Ky. – The stabilization of world-famous painter and sculptor Frank Duveneck’s childhood home in Covington will be handled by a company that has worked on everything from Cincinnati’s Music Hall to the foundation of Hotel Covington to a fire-damaged Jim Beam Rickhouse.
The Covington Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night voted to hire SSRG Midwest Operations, a Cincinnati-based specialized contractor with expertise in stabilization, foundation and façade work, and historic preservation.
Work on the dilapidated building at 1226 Greenup St. will begin as soon as a contract is signed and the City arranges to bring electrical power and water service to the site, said Walt Mace, assistant director of Covington’s Neighborhood Services Department.
“We’re not letting grass grow under our feet on this project,” Mace said. “SSRG officials said they can start pretty much right away, and the work itself will take only about a month.”
The scope of the work is widespread, with repair, replacement, or bracing up of roof rafters, exterior wall studs and sheathing, floors, and the foundation. The total amount of the contract is just under $135,000.
“The building is not going to look much different from the outside, but it will be stabilized and weatherized,” Mace said. “We got permission from the courts to save the building and that’s what we’re going to do.”
What happens to the building after it is stabilized isn’t yet determined, City officials said.
“Our only goal at this point is to save history and keep the building from falling,” Mace said.
The building – a privately owned structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places – is vacant and in danger of collapse after years of neglect. Among other things, a wide and widening hole in the foundation has eroded dirt underneath and had allowed access to the building to water, animals, and transients; parts of the building were open to the elements; and the south side of the 2½-story structure shows a significant and ominous bulge.
The City sought and in September was granted temporary control of the building by a Kenton Circuit judge under a 2-year-old state law called the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act. The background of the 8-year battle to save the building, which is well over 150 years old, can be read at “Court clears way for City to save ….”
Since then, the City has secured the building, hired Advantage Group Engineers to draw up plans for the stabilization, and searched for and identified a contractor.
Frank Duveneck, 1848-1919, was a renowned artist, sculptor, and teacher widely considered one of the most celebrated American artists of the late 19th century and early 20th century.
He painted in the style of Realism, and his work can be seen at museums in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, and Cincinnati, among other places.
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