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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2015)
FR IDAYEXTRA ! The Da i ly A s to r ian F r iday , Ju ly 10 , 2015 W eekend Ed i t ion A TALL ORDER The cupo la a t the top o f the 125 - foo t co lumn w i l l unde rgo wa te rp rooflng . Ma r ie La ib in is , the p ro jec t d i rec to r , removes moss f rom a mu ra l . She es t ima ted tha t by 1995 , on ly abou t 20 pe rcen t o f the o r ig ina l a r t by I ta l ian pa in te r A t t i l io Pus te r la rema ined . C rews a re us ing a h ighe r qua l i ty pa in t to res to re the wo rk done two decades ago . S t ruc tu ra l repa i rs w i l l be made to the obse rva t ion deck tha t o f fe rs pano ram ic v iews o f As to r ia . The d is t inc t ive a r t is known as sg ra ffl to . The mu ra ls dep ic t the ea r ly h is to ry o f As to r ia . Co re samp les we re taken to ge t a be t te r unde rs tand ing o f the cond i t ion o f the conc re te . Ve r t ica l c racks we re v is ib le w i th in a decade a f te r the co lumn was bu i l t in 1926 . ‘ I n a s e n s e , i t ’ s g e t t i n g a p h y s i c a l r i g h t n ow , ” M a r i e L a i b i n i s , a P o r t l a n d c o n s e r v a t o r , e x p l a i n s a s s h e m a k e s h e r w a y u p t h e s c a f f o l d i n g a r o u n d t h e A s t o r i a C o l um n . “A n d w e ’ r e l e a r n i n g a l o t a b o u t t h e c h a n g e s . ” T h e p r o j e c t d i r e c t o r f o r t h e $ 1 m i l l i o n r e s t o r a t i o n w a s i n v o l v e d i n t h e l a s t im p o r t a n t w o r k t o t h e c o l um n i n 1 9 9 5 , a n d s h e h a s k i n d o f a m a t e r n a l w a rm t h f o r t h e 1 2 5 - f o o t t a l l m o n um e n t . O l d a g e a n d w e a t h e r h a v e c a u g h t u p w i t h t h e c o n c r e t e c y l i n d e r , w h i c h w a s b u i l t i n 1 9 2 6 t o c e l e b r a t e A s t o r i a ’ s r i c h e a r l y h i s t o r y . O v e r t h e s umm e r , t h e c o l um n w i l l b e c l e a n e d a n d p a i n t e d , t h e o b s e r v a t i o n d e c k w i l l b e s t a b i l i z e d , a n d c r ew s w i l l d e c i d e w h a t t o d o a b o u t v e r t i c a l c r a c k s t h a t e x p o s e t h e s h a f t t o w a t e r . T h e p l a z a a t C o x c om b H i l l w i l l a l s o b e im p r o v e d . “T h i s t im e a r o u n d i t ’ s a l i t t l e d i f f e r e n t , ” L a i b i n i s s a i d o f t h e r e s t o r a t i o n . “ I t ’ s a m o r e c om p r e h e n s i v e l o o k a t t h e c o l um n a n d t h e m u r a l s . ” John Goodenbe rge r , a h is to r ic bu i ld ings consu l tan t and s i te manage r fo r the p ro jec t , shows a p las te r sec t ion o f mu ra l tha t has de lam ina ted and is sepa ra t ing f rom the co lumn . By DERR ICK D ePLEDGE and JOSHUA BESSEX Th e Da i l y A s to r ian