Taliesin refers both to the residence and the 800 acre estate surrounding it. First began by Mr. Wright in 1911, the house burned and was rebuilt twice.
Taliesin Preservation, Inc., is a private non-profit organization
working to preserve the buildings and provide public access and educational
opportunities. Their work on buildings with such a complex history- often representing multiple periods of construction, differing materials, and mixes, presents much fodder for philosophical and technical discussion…mortars and plasters
being a particularly rich field.
Taliesin Preservation has come to the conclusion that matching exact mortars is less important than coming up with the best technical mixes. They have been using NHL 3.5 for numerous re-pointing jobs and several plaster repairs both interior and exterior, and have been pleased with the results. Much of their upcoming masonry work consists of replacing inappropriate acrylic modified Portland based mortars with lime based mixes. It is a tedious but highly satisfying work.
To learn more about Taliesin, visit http://www.taliesinpreservation.org/