Mary Baldwin University is shining a bit brighter these days, after maintenance crews performed restoration work on two iconic campus structures.
Workers recently rebuilt the pedestals at the entrance to the Administration Building on which “Ham” and “Jam” reside. Each statue was carefully lifted off its base and the wooden pedestals that had badly deteriorated over the years were restored. They installed copper roofing material to permanently protect the top of the pedestals, and the pups — modeled after Mary Julia Baldwin’s dog, Beauty — were carefully returned to their posts.
A thick coating of deteriorated and cracked paint was carefully stripped and removed from the statues, and they were primed and repainted, revealing original details and contours of the dogs that have not been visible for many years.
The stairs, railings, and wood trim on the front porch of the Administration Building were also refurbished and repainted. Lovegrove Construction performed the woodwork restoration while Mary Baldwin Facilities Management painters Todd Collier and Jeff Reese took on the makeover of Ham and Jam.
Visible to much of Staunton, the cupola on top of Lyda B. Hunt Dining Hall was also repainted. After years of exposure to weather, the paint on the cupola had become cracked and was peeling badly. Much of the old paint was removed from the structure and it was primed and repainted by Dave Brown of Precise Painting, Inc.
Thanks to Director of Facilities Management Brent Douglass for the updates on these recent campus makeovers.