Developers restore ceiling in Markle Building
By Jim Dino, Staff Writer05/14/2007
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Patrons might be eating dinner in a restaurant in Hazleton with a multi-million-dollar ceiling in the near future. Developers of the Markle Building in downtown Hazleton are restoring a more-than-100-year-old plaster ceiling that has nine different designs in it. The ceiling is locat
ed in the former bank space in the Markle, which has been eyed for a restaurant. George Leitner, leasing agent for the Markle, said Hazleton Development Co., led by George Hayden Jr., decided to restore the ceiling when officials realized what they had.
“We had taken down the old drop ceiling, because it was damaged and had to be replaced anyway,” Leitner said. “When we took the ceiling down, we found this great old ceiling and decided to restore it.”
Luckily, Leitner was able to find an artisan who restores such ceilings. Albane Abderrahim, a native of Morocco, North Africa, and two fellow native Moroccans, Omar Tendim and Benkyane Adbessamade, have been working on the ceiling for the last two months. In about a month, the ceiling will be finished — and the space ready for a restaurant to move in. Abderrahim, who has been in the restoration business for about 17 years, has done work for MTV and Radio City Music Hall. The next step was to find someone to do it. A chance conversation between Hayden and Abderrahim in a restaurant led to the job.
“We are very fortunate to have him do this,” Leitner said. “Now, he lives here. He hopes to have more work in the Northeast region. He does residential work as well as commercial work.”
Abderrahim restored the ceiling by matching like parts of the ceiling that were not damaged with sections that were. The undamaged sections were used to make molds. First, Abderrahim used clay to shape the mold. To make the mold suitable to pour plaster into it, the clay was used to shape a copy of the mold in silicon. The silicon mold was then used to form liquid plaster, which was then allowed to dry and cure. Once the plaster replacement piece was dry — in just a few hours — it was placed into the portion of the ceiling that was damaged. [email protected]
Tendim said to reinforce the patch, burlap is used to mesh the old and new plaster. Before the ceiling project began, Leitner said construction crews had to carefully install new electrical and sprinkler systems — by going underneath the plaster ceiling.
“While we were trying to maintain this beautiful ceiling of the past, we had to bring the ceiling up to modern building codes,” Leitner said. Leitner said the ceiling will probably be painted. But what color will be left up to the restaurant operator. In the Broad Street lobby of the building, a similar ceiling was painted three different colors. Now that the ceiling is almost finished, Leitner said he hopes to sign a restaurant to take at least some of the space. On the first floor — where the bank had its space — there is a natural place for a kitchen and a large dining area. On the side of the old bank safe, there is a logical place for restrooms. Leitner envisions the safe becoming a wine cellar.
“Where is there a wine closet in Hazleton?” he said. “The safe door is one of only three like it in the country. Its patents date back to the turn of the last century. We restored it.”
On the mezzanine, there is space for additional dining space, or perhaps a bar.
“One proposal we had was taking the whole thing, and (using) the mezzanine space for private conference rooms, or for a bar area where there would be live entertainment,” Leitner said.
“We have another proposal for just the first floor. In that case, we would turn the mezzanine into conference rooms ourselves.
“We want to stress that with any proposal, we are flexible,” Leitner said. “If they want to put a rug down, we can do that. We have a beautiful marble floor in part of the old bank. If they want to expose that, and put a rug on the rest of it, we can do that too.”
Hayden said the restaurant will be another jewel in the crown of the downtown.
“It will be a showplace,” he said. “We are revitalizing downtown by bringing back yesteryear.
“With the ceiling and vault refurbished, the bank will be the way people remember it. Along with the new lobby, the restaurant will be another beautiful effect the downtown has from the Markle Building.”
Leitner welcomes anyone who wants to see the progress of the building to stop by, but call first — the telephone number is on a sign on the front of the building.
“We don’t mind people from the community coming in to see what we are doing here,” Leitner said. “They just have to be careful where they walk. A lot of people remember the bank.”
©The Citizens Voice 2007
