chapel of roses roof restoration
As the oldest secular cemetery in the state of California, the Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, California, founded in 1839, has a proud heritage as a peaceful resting place for people of all religions, cultures and nationalities. Today the Park occupies nearly 350 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, historic chapels and monuments, and stands as a tranquil alternative to northern California’s bustling technology center, Silicon Valley, located just beyond its boundaries.
One of the chapels, the Chapel of Roses, an English-style cottage erected in 1933, stands out amongst the architectural treasures of the Park, offering an old-world warmth and solitude to those mourning the loss of a friend or loved one. Clearly, the Chapel of Roses represents one of the great features of the Park and thus the maintenance staff at the Park has worked tirelessly over the decades to preserve it. However, as with nearly all decades-old, historic buildings, there eventually comes a time when a major restoration becomes necessary. For the Chapel of Roses, it was 2014.
The ownership of the Park engaged Santa Fe General Contractors to complete an exterior restoration of the building and they, in turn, asked Dennis Phillips, head of west coast operations, to manage the project, keep it on time and on budget, and ensure that all renovations remained consistent with the original design. Dennis immediately recognized that replacing the roof would provide the biggest challenge, both in terms of scope and budget. Over the next several months, he began looking for suppliers; he needed someone who could provide the bent-cedar shingles (ref. adjacent picture) as well as someone who could install them. After evaluating several prospective suppliers, he selected Huber & Associates (H&A), a specialty roofing company located in Lake City, FL, known for supplying the type of shingles needed – Barry Huber, founder and president of H&A, patented his process for bending cedar shingles – and known also for its restoration skills. According to Dennis, H&A could do both jobs and, in particular, “had old-world skills rarely seen anymore.”
H&A kicked off the roofing project in July 2015. Over the next 120 days, Dennis and his team worked with the H&A team to restore the chapel roof. Like most any project, the two teams faced their share of challenges but they always worked through them without difficulty. Dennis found the “H&A team’s professionalism refreshing.”
Throughout the project, Dennis was hands-on, attending to every detail. Upon realizing that the original roof had been installed prior to the stucco walls, he had the stucco chipped away from the upper walls to ensure the eaves of the new roof had precisely the same overhang as the original. He was painstaking with every detail but with good reason. He hadn’t been tasked with making repairs; he had been asked to restore the building to its original design and he would do just that.
Dennis, his team and the H&A team, including Barry Huber himself, spent hours on the phone as well as time on the chapel roof. Everyone understood the project and everyone had committed to recreating the original design. The teams brainstormed, shared ideas, compromised and completed the project as intended. The new roof was true to the original and, what’s more, it was completed on time and on budget. Dennis described the project as “extremely successful” and went on to say “he wouldn’t have changed a thing.”
Barry Huber, and his son Jamin who was heavily involved with the project, beamed with pride when talking about the project. According to Barry, “we’re specialty roofers and while projects of this nature may challenge our thinking from time to time, it’s this type of work that really excites us.”
While wrapping up with Dennis, he added “I don’t know if anybody else could have done the project.”