Outdoor Lantern Restoration & Replication - Yale Silliman College
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  • Project Overview
Silliman College is the largest of all twelve residential colleges on the Ivy League school's New Haven, Conn. Campus. It was named after Benjamin Silliman, "The Father of scientific education," who was the first professor of Chemistry at Yale, before becoming a renowned geologist. Opened in September of 1940, the college was designed by Otto R. Eggers, of Eggers and Higgins, an architectural firm based out of New York City.

Renovations on the campus beginning in 2005 were completed in August of 2007. It was during this period that Grand Light's restoration specialists began their work on over one hundred indoor and outdoor fixtures of various sizes. This particular task was to restore two large and unique corner bracket-mounted lanterns that had been compromised by years of weather exposure, and also to replicate two additional lanterns in the same style.

To restore the piece to its natural beauty, the team meticulously replaced the frosted glass of the lanterns, carefully stripped the weathered finish and repainted the entire fixture to match the shade and texture of the other antique outdoor fixtures at the college. The wire-ways were also repaired, and the team reproduced missing elements of the roof. To complete the restoration, the lanterns were also modified with a 100 watt metal halide lamp and new ballast assembly.

Light Restoration by Grand Light