The Stan Hywet restoration at Stan Hywet Hall included restoring all the 100 year old hardwood floors on the first floor level, the public areas, and most of the bedrooms, suites and halls of the second floor level, and the informal or private areas. The majority of the wood on the first floor was a teak veneer. In the dining room, the wood was quarter sawed oak installed in a herringbone pattern. This material was solid. The teak veneer was used in the bedrooms on the second floor level and the herringbone pattern of quarter sawed oak was repeated in the halls. It should be pointed out that the marks left in the floor from the hand scraping or tooling were preserved and very visible in the finished product.
Located in Akron, Ohio, Stan Hywet is considered to be the premier example of Tudor Revival architecture in the US.Once completed, the Music Room and the other 15,000 square feet of restored flooring provide a glimpse of how the home was intended to look.The walnut sunburst was restored to its original look and provides a dramatic entrance into the Music Room.The “witness” left on the Music Room floors gives solid testimony of the “before and after” look of the handsome teak floors.The finished floors present a level of craftsmanship and beauty not seen in the mansion in more than 90 years.Passive Refinishing® would allow for the removal of surface coatings only, leaving all original wood and planing marks intact.Extraordinary care was needed to avoid any loss of original materials during the restoration process.The teak flooring was not only a veneer; it had the original hand-planing marks from the installation 90 years ago.The aging process had not been kind to the old floors and they needed some cosmetic improvements and protection added.Built in 1911, Stan Hywet had hand crafted teak and quarter sawed oak flooring throughout its 55,000 square feet.
