Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Scaffold, Masonry

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• published: 09 Jun 2014
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Founded by Henry Francis du Pont, Winterthur (pronounced "winter-tour") is the premier museum of American decorative arts, reflecting both early America and the du Pont family's life here. Its 60-acre naturalistic garden is among the country's best, and its research library serves scholars from around the world. We invite you to visit and explore this place of beauty, history, and learning. Almost 60 years ago, collector and horticulturist Henry Francis du Pont (1880--1969) opened his childhood home, Winterthur, to the public. Today, Winterthur (pronounced "winter-tour") is the premier museum of American decorative arts, with an unparalleled collection of nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America between about 1640 and 1860. The collection is displayed in the magnificent 175-room house, much as it was when the du Pont family lived here, as well as in permanent and changing exhibition galleries. Winterthur is set amidst a 1,000-acre preserve of rolling meadows and woodlands. Designed by du Pont, its 60-acre naturalistic garden is among America's best, with magnificent specimen plantings and massed displays of color. Graduate programs and a preeminent research library make Winterthur an important center for the study of American art and culture. Pinnacle was hired because of its history with working with historic structures (see website www.pinnaclescaffold.com). This job had several major challenges to overcome. The first was that this enormous job had to be completely self-supported and not tied into the building at all. That's why you see so many support towers all the way around. Look closely at the photos and you will see the feet resting on top of wood then plastic leaning into the building. This design had to be completely engineered to support not only the weight of the scaffold but of the wind pressure added by the debris netting. The next challenge was how to span the 60' gap over the top of the glass atrium. That was done by having two of the largest trusses ever built (by Etobicoke) locked together to create one giant 60' span able to handle the weight load. There are two levels of 2 X 60' trusses over the atrium (again, see the photos). And Pinnacle smartly put debris netting beneath each level over the atrium just in case something were to slip off it would be stopped by the netting. This job will encase the entire building in scaffolding and debris netting and then jump to another adjoining building.