For the twenty-ninth year, the Chicago Paint & Coatings Association has sponsored the “Chicago Finest Painted Ladies and her Court Competition”. The contest is held every year to recognize the most outstanding painted work done on Victorian and other “Period” buildings. The competition is open to both contractors and homeowners.

Restored Chicago Vintage Metal Facade

Restored Chicago Vintage Metal Bay Window

Our project won in the category “Best Color Scheme for the Neighborhood”. The building is an 1889 brick Victorian with extensive metalwork on the cornice and two-story bay window. Part of the restoration work involved the fabrication of around thirty pieces of metal decoration that been lost, corroded or fallen apart (as well as the relocation of five bird nests). The metal had not been painted in over twenty years. So, much scraping was involved in the surface preparation. The project also involved the rebuilding of substantial portions of the front porch and the epoxying of many of the window casing and sills.

As far as the color scheme is concerned, we simply reproduced the existing one, which gave the building a regal look and worked well with surrounding buildings. Such projects often involve substantial color consultation and major changes to the color scheme. In this case, we felt the existing colors worked really well.

Chicago is well endowed with such buildings, where shaped metal was used to decorate and beatify their appearance. As painting and decorating contractors, we are privileged to help preserve them and restore their beauty.

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On October 8th, 2015, Mario Guertin was a guest lecturer in the Historic Preservation Department of the School of the Art Institute . The lecture was given to a dozen graduate students as part of the curriculum for their class on American Interior Design. The professor for this class is Rolf Achilles who is a luminary in the field of Art History, especially as it pertains to the American decorative arts and architecture. Among other things, Rolf is the Curator for the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows and is Chair on the Board of the Glessner House.

Historical Preservation Class of 2015 – School of the Art Institute

The first part of Guertin’s lecture told the story of how paint evolved from ingredients being mixed in the field by painters to ready-mixed paint in a can, as it is known today. Guertin started his lecture by saying that, after listening to this lecture, they would never look at a paint can the same way again. He then went on to explain how population growth, combined with tremendous technical innovation during the Industrial Revolution created the painting industry and ushered in the era of the “Chemist”.

The lecture also illustrated the use of color from the mid-1880’s to the 1950’s by sharing some of his vast collection of antique paint color cards featuring the actual paint chips for the various colors. The lecture also included a segment on color consultation – past and present. Those were the early days on Interior Design. Out of their need to promote the use of paint, manufacturers also did a lot to illustrate how paint colors could be used and combined to decorate the interior and exterior of houses. Many of those illustrations were displayed in the class.

Guertin wrapped up his presentation by illustrating how his own house painting company goes about doing Color and Concept Consultation for both interior and exterior painting projects. No one in attendance will ever look at paint cans the same way again!

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