Past is present

Stonemason Jacob Arndt makes new parts for old buildings at a converted creamery in Lake Mills

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An 1878 building that began life as a creamery sat on the market for years before Jacob Arndt bought it for cheap in 2010.

“It came up for sale as a residence and it was defaulted on. They let the water run and it froze, and it couldn’t be a residence anymore,” says Arndt, an architectural stonemason, who uses the property outside of Lake Mills to run his business, Northwestern Masonry & Stone.

Arndt has made very few changes to the building, outside of installing an air compressor and a couple of 200-amp service boxes.

The rustic nature of the job site fits with Arndt’s ethos. He’s decidedly old-school, and bemoans the loss of artistic traditions as a result of technological advancements. He’s realistic about the need for efficiency, but thinks we’re losing the ability to repair historic structures. “We need a contingent of artisans to actually be able to work on these older buildings,” he says.

He points to the 2008 restoration of Milwaukee City Hall that subsequently required years of repairs on the terra-cotta facade. “Three years after installation, it started falling off onto the sidewalk, because of the differential between the mortar and terra-cotta — that was a $15 million mistake. Engineers’ models are based on current research and do not reflect the physics of old stuff.”

Experience would have made a difference. “Material will let you know what you can’t do with it,” he adds. “There’s a feedback from it, a relationship with it that is getting lost.”

As a stone mason, Arndt helps preserve historical structures by rebuilding damaged structures from scratch. He starts with huge chunks of limestone or marble, and slowly carves them into identical replacements.

Arndt’s handiwork can be found all over the surrounding area, including at the Memorial Union, University Club and Gates of Heaven. He recently finished work repairing a 19th century sculpture at Period Garden Park on East Gorham Street.

Arndt followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who did stonemasonry in Mineral Point. He’s worked on buildings in Madison, Chicago, and overseas in France, where he lives and works a few months out of the year. The weather dictates his schedule. “It’s horrible here in the winter. It generally stays warm but when it gets under zero it’s impossible to heat,” he says, referring to his Wisconsin workspace. “That’s when I go to Normandy.”

The shop is littered with traditional tools of the trade, including iron and wood mallet hammers and three types of chisels: point, tooth and blade. There are also iron pins, scaffolding and a chain hoist for installation and transport. Arndt stresses the importance of materials handling, as hoisting heavy stone structures up several stories can be dangerous if done without care. “If you make a mistake, these things weigh 700 pounds and it’s gonna take the scaffold with it,” he says.

Arndt has some other heavy duty equipment, including large kilns for firing glazed terra-cotta pieces. “Clay and the crushed stone used as glaze is all part of the masonry trade. It all has a long learning curve,” he says.

Arndt underscores the value of small artisan shops keeping traditional stonemasonry alive, and hopes people notice the effort and attention to detail it requires. “We love trinkets in museums, love the finesse. But this is the artwork that is the most public.”