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Welcome To The
Lafayette Park Conservancy
Help Restore the
Benton Statue! 
“Old Bullion” Is Golden Again
The restoration of the Thomas Hart Benton statue is underway! This project was an early goal of the Lafayette Park Conservancy. The “Hats Off to Hattie Gala” in 2008 raised about half of the funds needed for the project. The remaining funds came from private donations and the Lafayette Park Conservancy.
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer’s statue of Benton was cast at the Royal Bronze Foundry in Munich, Germany, then under the direction of Ferdinand von Miller. The marvelous quality of the von Miller bronze helped Benton withstand 140 years of air pollution. Like most industrial cities of the time, coal was a major fuel for homes and industry in St. Louis.. By the 1930’s, so much bituminous (soft) coal was being used that thick grey smog blanked the city. A Smoke Ordinance was passed requiring the burning of cleaner coal. One day in 1939, a heat inversion trapped the smog creating “a day the sun l didn’t shine.” The Clean Air Acts of the 1960’s brought attention to the issue of air pollution and its detrimental effect on outdoor sculpture.
By the 1970’s, Benton had turned green and had large black and pitted areas. Phoebe Weil discovered that a statue’s green patina, long thought to protect a statue, indicated a severe corrosive attack produced by sulfur-polluted air. Weil was the Director of the Conservation Laboratory, Center for Archæometry at Washington University at that time. Working with a team of art historians, scientists, archeologists and physicists, they developed a new method to restore outdoor sculpture. Their first projects were the Washington and Benton statues in Lafayette Park. Unfortunately, both statues were not maintained after restoration.
On July 6. Russell-Marti Conservation Services (RMCS) put up scaffolding and evaluated Benton’s current condition. Their assessment of Benton in 2009 found “several issues affecting the sculpture, including varying degrees of corrosion activity, surface flaws, areas of investment seepage, and damaged metal from water retention and associated freeze/thaw activity."
RMCS began by plugging the largest holes and breaks in the metal surface with threads of copper alloy. Then the white plaster-like material left over from the casting process that had seeped onto the surface was carefully removed along with the protective coating from the 1970 restoration. These procedures were gently and carefully done using wooden sculpture tools, dental picks, and brushes with soft bristles.
In preparation for a very low pressure cleaning with microscopic glass beads, the scaffolding was draped in plastic sheeting. St. Louis was in the grip of a heat wave, a streak of days with temperatures in the 100s. Working in the blazing sun at the top of the statue looked unbearably hot, but proved to be the coolest spot in the park since the protective gear was air-conditioned.
The original golden colored bronze began to emerge. When all the green and black corrosive crust is removed, the statue will be polished and a protective coating will be applied.
Despite energetic fundraising accomplished over the last three years, however, the Conservancy is still about $6,000 thousand dollars short of the amount required to fund this important restoration. A generous donor has put up $2,000 in the form of a matching grant, so every dollar you donate can turn into two.
Online donations can be made here, or you can send your check to the Lafayette Park Conservancy, 2023 Lafayette Ave., St. Louis, MO 63104.
By Carolyn Willmore
Read more about the Benton restoration project at the St. Louis Beacon.
Copyright (C) 2005-2008 Lafayette Park Conservancy