Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 27, 1995 TAG: 9503270097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As crews struggled to finish the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center this weekend, one thing stood ready for public viewing amid the dusty floors, gaping electrical fixtures and exposed structural steel of the pedestrian walkway: the hotel's murals.
Volunteers from the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation have given the panels a needed wiping down.
During Saturday morning and part of Sunday afternoon, they stretched from ladders to clean painted scenes of dancers and historic figures lining the stately Oval Room, lobby and corridor. Fifteen people participated.
The murals had become coated with a thin film of dust, tobacco smoke residue, mildew and other substances.
``It's just various stuff that happened at various times. It's not wholesale destruction,'' said volunteer Kent Chrisman, a real estate agent.
Here and there, the workers no doubt were tempted to dig a fingernail into the crud atop the paint. Consider one worker's discovery of a brown substance marring a peacock scene.
``It was as if somebody was going around a corner with a tray and spilled some gravy or something,'' said George Kegley, president of the advocacy group.
The procedure strictly forbade scrubbing, however. ``It's more dabbing,'' Kegley said.
Group members are not trained restorers, but they did consult experts including Hollins College art historian W.L. ``Tony'' Whitwell before starting work.
Their cleaning tool? The lowly cloth diaper. Diapers were dipped in a solution of Ivory liquid soap and distilled water. Each work was rinsed and dried.
``The first time over, the [diapers] were rather dirty,'' Kegley said.
The preservation group worked independently of the murals' creators, who could not be located. One set of four works titled ``The Virginia Reel,'' ``The Quadrille,'' ``The Waltz'' and ``The Minuet'' is signed ``Irving and Co. Inc., A. Karoly and L.P. Szanto-artists,'' but neither artist could be found, Kegley said.
Gary Walton, hotel general manager, praised the effort, which he said enhances the overall restoration of the hotel. The results of the cleaning, he said, were evident to him.
``The color certainly seemed to be more dramatic,'' Walton said. ``There's definitely a change.''
The Oval Room, an extension of the lobby, could be the site of receptions, he said.
The preservation group passed on cleaning an immense Oval Room ceiling mural, which they said should be left to a professional - who likely will charge $2,000 or more. Apparently stained by smoke, the scene consists of yellowed clouds against a blue sky.
by CNB