In the heart of London lies a private 40-room mansion decorated in the Victorian style. It sits amidst a 360-degree garden that gives it a country feel in an urban setting.
The owner, one of the most prominent and richest people in England, decided to complete some renovations to the 35,000 square foot home. Because the mansion is still part of the Crown’s holdings, however, strict historical society regulations apply. So he hired an architect and a local British renovation crew to do the work.
While the palace had undergone repairs over the years, it received significant renovations in the 1970s. That work began showing its age and needed to be redone. A complete repainting of the ballroom, music room, multiple bedrooms, studies, and formal dining rooms was required too. And on top of that, the wiring throughout the palace needed to be updated to 21st-century code. Very quickly, the British crew, while eager, discovered their decorative painting skills would be insufficient to complete the job.
That’s when Pierre Finkelstein, owner and proprietor of Grand Illusion Decorative Painting was brought in. “I flew in with two of my foremen and we did 12 samples for different rooms,” explained Finkelstein. “We worked 19 hours straight for two days to get it done. That’s when they hired us. And as we completed each room, they were so impressed with the results, they kept adding others for us to do.”
In the end, Finkelstein’s nine-person crew completed work on 37 rooms. His team included two apprentices including Tiff Ziter, a decorative painter journeyman. “I get most of my work pool from former students,” said Finkelstein. “Tiff proved herself on other projects so I decided to give her a chance on this one. It was a great opportunity for her to add to her painting skills on a historic project in London.”
The labor was intensive. The project required quite a bit of gilding. Overall, the work was based on the classical late 18th-century style of work that Finkelstein is known for. In addition to applying matching paint finishes, and matching the graining for missing sections of wood paneling, the team came up with an innovative method for decorating outdoor stone work.
“We had to stain some stones in the winter garden,” said Finkelstein. “A few blocks had been replaced and we needed to match the weathering pattern of existing pieces.”
The team’s solution was to use tea as a stain. “It’s a very good stain because it’s permanent and weather proof,” added Finkelstein. Ziter participated in the trial and error process to perfect a stain formula. It began with the brewing of Earl Gray and other teas using various numbers of bags to vary the concentration. Then pigments were added to create seven different shades. After applying the tea, and letting it dry to observe the stone’s true color, the final tonality was added to mimic 150 years of outdoor weathering. “They were very pleased with the final results,” said Finkelstein.
Lori Wilson also joined the crew for six weeks as an apprentice. The Application Specialist for Artist Colors, Inc. of Berlin, New York, focused on surface preparation for glazing, gold-leaf and gilding work. “It was a phenomenal experience,” said Wilson. “Pierre would show me the dos and don’ts of an application, and then have task mentors oversee my work. Between them, I learned a lot about technical skills, production efficiencies to ensure the project is profitable and people skills.”
Wilson noted that Finkelstein’s approach to decorative painting apprenticeship dates back to the Renaissance. At that time guilds were formed to pass on the craft’s techniques, traditions and knowledge. Apprentices would start with fundamental assignments, like surface preparation, and work their way up over the years to more intricate undertakings.
Fellow decorative painter and Director and Principal Instructor at the School of Applied Arts in Denver also likes to use apprentices on his projects. “Pierre, like all of our instructors, like to give back to the painter community by using apprentices on these kinds of projects. The London mansion restoration is the type of experience where we can create fantastic practitioners who build on their skills.”
Finkelstein agrees. “Working together on a live project presents challenges and solutions that we can’t always duplicate in a classroom setting. Students get to enhance their decorative skills with the input from more advanced painters too.”