Adams Building, Howard University

Washington, D.C. (1927)

The Building: 
The Howard University School of Medicine dates to 1868, just one year after the founding of the university. The framed buildings are the Seeley G. Mudd Building, opened in 1979, and the Dr. Numa Pompilius Garfield Adams Building, opened in 1927 and expanded in 1957. The new half of the Adams Building replaced the original medical school building, which opened in 1869.

In January 2018, the steam pipes ruptured, causing many of the campus buildings, including the Adams building, to be without heat during freezing weather in the D.C. area.

Project Synopsis: 
John Tiedemann Inc./HPCS USA were called in to inspect the plaster-on-wire-lath ceilings and the plaster-on-masonry walls in the Adams building and other campus buildings that were affected by the ruptured steam pipes. It was determined that virtually all the plaster had been saturated and compromised by the escaped steam.

5,000 square feet of plaster-on-wire-lath ceilings were successfully stabilized using the HPCS three-step treatment system featuring CO R-100 Consolidation Agent. Another 15,000 square feet of plaster on masonry walls were successfully reattached using HPCS AD 25 Gel and a tool developed specifically for this purpose.

Historic Plaster Conservation Services