“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.” ~ Alexander Pope
Look at this incredible rib vaulted ceiling! This is the Jimmie Ruth Auditorium at the Kentucky Folk Art Center. Our awesome and engaging center guide, Julia Finch, told us the building was originally the local wholesale food storage building. It sits near the old train depot, making it convenient for unloading goods from the train. This vaulted room was the cold storage room in the building. Brick and stone are fantastic for chilling. The vaulted ceiling of brick was clever because the room is relatively large, and the brick helps keep the temperature down and the cold inside the room. No other material would have insulated the room as well in the 19th century. The vaulting ensures the brick structure is sturdy. It’s a win/win. Unfortunately, as you can see in the brick detail of the bottom, the bricks most exposed to salt and ice are rapidly deteriorating. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, as the saying goes. Likely salt was used to fuse the ice blocks into a solid mass. Naturally, over time, there was melt and run-off, and in that run-off was salt. There’s little else more harmful to brick than salt and this is what it looks like when it has gotten severe. There’s no way to reverse the damage, only replacing the brick and mortar will resolve the issue. To do that right – right being similar bricks and similar lime mortar – is extremely expensive. The center is going to have to do it sooner than later. If you are in the area, support them all you can. And if you’re not in the area, there are still ways to support them. They’ve done an incredible job in repurposing this piece of history.
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