Hagen Baluster Replication

“What’s the 100-year-old answer?” is a phrase often uttered during the decision-making process between Thomas B. Hagen, Founder & Chairman of Historic Erie Preservation Trust, and the Historic Erie Restoration team as they determine how to best restore and preserve the history of the homes within Erie’s West Sixth Street Historic District neighborhood.

Recently, Mike Jefferys, President of Kidder Jefferys Construction, and his crew needed a solution as they worked to restore a nearly 130-year-old staircase in the 1895 Germer • Walker House located at 538 W. Sixth Street as several wooden balusters were damaged or missing and needed to be replaced to complete the home’s grand entrance aesthetic.

After endless hours of searching for craftsmen and millwork firms who could replicate the damaged balusters’ intricate, original spiral design in a cost-efficient and timely manner, Jefferys was connected to a more modern approach to repair the staircase.

The skilled students and employees and technology within Gannon University’s Institute for Health and Cyber Knowledge were the perfect solution for this unique challenge.

Using a 3D laser scanner to create a digital replica in real-time, a team of Gannon students and staff led by Design and Fabrication Engineer, Nick Devine, designed an exact model that is being 3D-printed within the I-HACK’s Maker Lab. Approximately one dozen balusters, with the original, intricate spiral design, are being 3D printed, fitted with a metal rod to ensure safety and adhered to the necessary attachments for the Kidder Jefferys Construction team to seamlessly install the new 3D-printed balusters alongside the original woodwork of the home’s staircase.

View more about this collaborative partnership and how this high-tech solution is helping to preserve the historic details of Erie’s Germer • Walker House.

This project is the first of potentially many like this as Gannon University collaborates on the preservation of Erie’s historic community. Additional partnering projects include the restoration of two homes in the 200 block of W. Sixth Street and the restoration and moving of another that was announced last April.