Grille Room

In the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, a landmark piece of architecture designed by renowned architect Benno Janssen (completed in 1911), adjacent to the Oaklander hallway are two more monumental embossed painted plaster vaulted ceilings that make up the ceiling of the Grille Room, the storied cafeteria.  

Like the Oaklander ceiling, the Grille Room vaulted ceilings were dirty and discolored with embedded soot and dust and had a residue of cooking oil.  The decorative painting was badly flaking in places and there were large, scattered losses in the plaster substrate.  In addition, there was a very large loss in the plaster frieze running down the center of the room, revealing a void behind the wainscotting bordering the vaulted ceilings.

The painted embossed plaster was cleaned from scissor-lift with a mild alkaline water-based cleaning solution on brushes.  The surface was then rinsed with pure water.  Flaking paint was stabilized by spraying with an aqueous adhesive and set-down with a tacking iron.  Lost plaster was filled, and the entire ceiling was harmonized with inpainting.  

It was noticed during the cleaning that the embossed strapwork, rosettes and buttons were originally more brightly gold colored.  The historic paint containing bronze powder had tarnished and darkened, causing the gold embossing to shift to brown.  The gold color was recreated on the embossing with iridescent artist paint, re-creating a magnificent dream of gold overall.