The Lost Column
The Cross House, 1999. Over to the lower left you will see a single VERY tall column. This column was unique in not having a stone base, as do all the other columns on the house. The whole was wood from top to ground level.
The column did have a capital matching all the other columns.
Bob Rodak removed the rotted column many years before I purchased the house.
The column today. The entire upper portion is gone. I do not know what happened to the upper portion between 1999 and when I purchased the house.
The base of the round shaft has this lovely detail, not seen on any other column.
The column was utterly devastated by a leaking gutter above. Many decades of water just ran down the column. I have repaired the gutter issue.
At the moment I have no idea of how to recreate the column in its entirety but am confident that if people can be sent to the moon then it will be possible to recreate the lost column.
In 2014, I was able to restore/recreate all twelve columns on the west-facing porch.
In 2018, I will restore/recreate all nine columns on the south-facing porch and porte-cochère. Including the lost column.
I look forward to this with…anticipation.
Oh, who am I kidding. I AM FREAKIN’ OUT WITH EXCITEMENT ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!
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We are all excited about the south face restoration. It truely needs some Ross restoration magic. Oh and a lot of Ross’s blood sweat and tears.
I’m sure people with more expertise than myself will chime in, but since you have ample extant columns with the desired profile, you should be able to make a template (cardboard or thin plywood) of the profile and have a new one turned by any competent woodturner. And you’ve already been reproducing the carved capitols, so all told, shouldn’t be too bad.
The west facade columns all restored & no doubt the south as well!!! Very exciting!! I have no doubt the poor tall, devastated & deteriorated column will be recreated!!!
Oh & love that porte-cochere! The beautiful designs of the trim as on the north facade!
Hi Ross,
My lathe has enough extensions that it can turn pieces up to ten feet long. I would make your column in two pieces. The first piece would be the unturned lower portion. The second would be the turned portion. As I see it, how to align the two pieces correctly is not the trick. There should be a wide hole bored in the end of one piece with a matching turned end that would fit right in. The trick is that the hole should be in the upper portion with the bottom square portion having the pin turned on it. The reason is that if there is ever water running down the column again, there would never be a way for water to migrate up into the hole. If the hole was bored in the bottom piece, any water running down the column might somehow seep into the hole causing rot. So to do it right, although the lower portion would appear to be unturned, it would actually have the connecting pin going up inside the upper portion.
What is the largest diameter of the turning? It is likely to be the same or slightly smaller than the thickness of the bottom piece.
I also noticed that the very bottom of the column, where it sat on something, has a sort of wedge shape extending down below whatever it sits on.