Vandalia State House (1836-1839)
Architect: Melotte-Morse, Ltd. Springfield, IL

Architect:
Melotte-Morse, Ltd., founded in 1978 by Ralls Melotte and Richard Morse, specializes in the renovation and historic preservation of commercial and institutional buildings.

Much of the firm's work is for the state of Illinois. Ralls Melotte states, "We work directly with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and other historic organizations. One of our main goals of historic preservation is to restore the authentic look of a building. We try to simulate the original appearance as closely as possible."

The Project:
In January 1987, the firm began work on the Vandalia State House, an early 19th century structure in Vandalia, Illinois. The Vandalia State House was the first state house in Illinois. In the 1930's, the first major restoration work was done when the building became the county courthouse. The restoration work however, was of the Federal style, whereas the original style of the building was colonial. Recently, the second restoration project began, returning the house to its original style. Ralls Melotte explains, "One of our goals is to achieve a museum-quality look when it's completed because, in fact, the building is a living museum."

The character of a historic structure is in part due to the windows. Windows, which are visible features of the exterior, are also distinctive elements of the interior. The glass is very important in achieving an authentic restoration project. It should draw attention but not obstruct the view. As a result, the kind of glass used becomes an important factor to the architect who's designing the restoration project.

According to Ralls Melotte, "No matter what kind of project we are doing, we require the glass to have a certain look. And when it's restoration work, we demand certain effects. We want a glass that visually replicates the original. It should create just enough distortion so that the panes appear handmade, but we don't want the view to disappear completely. At Melotte-Morse, we used S.A. Bendheim's Restoration GlassÆ to meet these criteria."

Restoration Glass^®:
Restoration Glass^®, imported exclusively by S.A. Bendheim, is blown in one of Europe's oldest glass factories. Each sheet of glass has slight distortions and occasional pits and imperfections like those that occurred in glass made during the Colonial period. Restoration Glass^® is available in two varieties: "full" for thicker and more distorting effects, and "light" for thinner and less distorting effects.

For the Vandalia State House, Melotte-Morse used Restoration Glass^® for all the windows. It helped Melotte-Morse to achieve a look that simulated the style of the 1830's and enabled the architect to add the desired touch of authenticity required.