Removing paint from soft stone ??????????

[John Twilley <jtwilley@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

Dear Peter:

Your request is a very strange one, especially coming from a country
with a fine reputation for protecting its historic architecture.  Why do
you want to make an anti-historical, stripped-down version of a medieval
building that you obviously respect?  If, as you state, there are
centuries of paint and plaster, it seems that you have a centuries-long
precedent for how the building was intended to look.  Is it only
contemporary fashion that makes the idea of "pierre apparent" attractive
enough to ignore centuries of precedent?

If there was only one century of badly considered paint applied to this
building and a clear precedent that most of its history, or the most
important part of it's history, was spent with exposed stone, then your
plan might correct the bad judgment of the recent past and reinstate the
appearance that was intended and valued over the long term.

Consider this opinion, perhaps expressed 20 years from now:  "Until 2003
this building had survived for centuries through good times and bad.
The events that it survived were, in a sense, recorded in the various
refurbishments of the building, good and bad.  However, in 2003, without
investigation or regard for how the building had originally been
finished, all paint and plaster finishes were stripped to the bare stone
by one Peter ______ .  With the hindsight of 20 years, this building now
looks like many others that were stripped in a campaign of popular
remodelings circa 2003 and little is known about its function or
appearance in the centuries after its construction..."

Since you are seeking advice about the practical side of stripping the
building it seems that you probably have not had the benefit of advice
about the objective or end result.  Apart from the philosophy of what
you intend to do, you should consider what you will do if it proves
impossible to completely remove these coatings without re-cutting the
stone or covering it with a new finish of your own.  In that case you
will have erased all the historical finishes and even eliminated the
original in your quest, resulting in a building that might as well be
new- a la Disneyland.

The considerations on what to do are complicated but I think that if you
take a step back and consult some of the references and resources
available through, for example, ICOMOS in Paris, or your regional
history offices you will be more satisfied in the end.  France was one
of the first countries to establish a central directorate of
preservation under Eugene Viollet le Duc.  Fortunately, methods have
evolved a great deal since then and there are a great many resources.

John Twilley