Great Hall Ceiling: Student Study Fosters Renewed Appreciation

Drayton Hall, built between 1738 and 1742, is often described as the most significant surviving building in British America and one of the finest examples of Georgian-Palladian architecture in the United States. It’s no wonder so many architectural historians have studied the design and construction of this unique piece of history.

In recent years, Drayton Hall has served as a living classroom for students at the American College of the Building Arts (ACBA). But when Drayton Hall invited the college’s plaster class to study the cast ceiling in Drayton’s great hall, no one expected everyone involved in the project to walk away from the experience with a new appreciation for the artistry that went into this mid-19th-century design.

“I was shocked when I learned we would be working with Drayton Hall to reproduce the ceiling,” states Michael Lauer, who is currently a third-year plaster student at ACBA. “It was such an honor to be able to work on a project like this at the oldest surviving plantation in South Carolina.”

ACBA was conceived after Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston in 1989, severely damaging many of the city’s historic buildings. It was discovered that, with few exceptions, master craftsmen of the building traditions were no longer available locally, and Charlestonians were forced to import skilled craftsmen to repair their historic homes and other buildings.

Today, the American College of the Building Arts educates and trains artisans in the traditional building arts—architectural stone, carpentry, forged architectural ironwork, plaster working, preservation masonry and timber framing—to foster exceptional craftsmanship and encourage the preservation, enrichment and understanding of the world’s architectural heritage through a four-year liberal arts education. Under the direction of one of ACBA’s highly experienced faculty members, Lauer, along with two of his fellow plaster students and one of the college’s ironwork students, began the project by taking dozens of photographs for reference. They also learned the history that is known about the work.

The plaster ceiling in the great hall is actually the third ceiling in that space. The first ceiling, undoubtedly ornate and magnificently carved like the masterpiece that still graces Drayton’s withdrawing room, was replaced around 1800, probably because of structural problems caused by the replacement of the riverside wall. The second ceiling also fell victim to structural problems and was replaced around 1850 with the current ceiling, which is an antebellum cast plaster design of stars, leaves and branches around a massive medallion.

“We drew the mock-ups for the ceiling to scale; each element by itself,” explains Lauer. “Each individual element really wasn’t original… an ordinary element that the designer might have found in a catalog. The artistry was in the way he arranged those ordinary pieces to form something that’s extraordinary.”

The final step for the students was to re-create the ceiling in their college classroom. “It was fascinating for us to figure out how the ceiling came together,” concludes Lauer. “To make assumptions based on the facts that we did have… to see how the mind of whoever designed it worked. It was a great experience.”

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