THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 1, 1997 TAG: 9701010234
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 92 lines
At Worth Restoration Inc., old things become new.
Now, that includes 92 Windsor-style, solid-walnut chairs that once graced the Supreme Court reading room in the old Virginia State Library and Archives in Richmond.
As time grew near to move into a new building at 800 E. Broad Street, new furnishings were considered, said Jan Hathcock, public information officer at the state facility.
But much of the furniture was still solid, she said, with only a few scratches and nicks. That's why officials charged with the move and with furnishing the building opted for refinishing.
``These were very attractive chairs,'' Hathcock said of the Windsor chairs with leather seats. ``It was beautiful, quality furniture that had lasted for years, and it was worth restoring.''
The chairs, restored and refinished by the Suffolk company, were shipped back to Richmond on Dec. 12. Meanwhile, another Virginia company in Centerville restored more than 200 oak library chairs that should be ready in time for the grand opening of the library that covers a full city block.
Restoration over replacement is a growing trend among institutions like the state library, said Dick Brown, president of the 3-year-old Suffolk company that specializes in refinishing institutional furniture.
Worth Restoration, he said, has already done work for several major universities, restoring dormitory furniture for Radford, George Mason, George Washington universities and classroom furniture for the city of Norfolk's public schools.
Brown, a Texas native, got into furniture restoration after he retired from a career in international marketing and his daughter convinced him and his wife to try living in Hampton Roads. For years, restoring old furniture had been a hobby.
He started working part time for another furniture restorer in the same building on Saratoga Street. And when the other company, which specialized more in restoring home furnishings, went out of business, Brown and another employee, Suffolk native Bobby Copeland, bought it.
Brown got the idea of restoring institutional furniture when he attended an auction of school furnishings in Portsmouth.
``There were all of those solid oak kindergarten desks - whole rooms full - being auctioned off for just a few dollars,'' Brown said. ``I knew then that they were going to be replaced by plastic and particle board, stuff that wouldn't last nearly as long as the solid wood.''
Since then, the company has gone beyond the schools and worked for hotels, restaurants, business firms.
``If it's decent furniture to begin with, you can restore it for about half the price to replace it,'' Brown said. ``I wish I could convince more school systems of this. With such a building boom going on around here in schools, everybody wants new building - new furniture.''
Refurbishing of the Radford University dormitory furniture was a good example, Brown said. Worth received more than 400 pieces of solid maple dressers, beds and tables. The furniture was sent back like new.
``You just don't throw away solid maple,'' he said.
The Suffolk company uses only water-based paints and lacquers. Water-based materials are less likely to catch on fire, and they create fewer hazards from fumes.
``The EPA is very rapidly becoming heavily involved in all ways, in every fact of life,'' Brown said. ``They're controlling what you put in the air and in the waters. You can come into our plant after a large job and smell absolutely nothing.''
And the environmentally friendly finishes, Brown said, are just as durable as those that are oil or chemical-based.
``These chairs are actually better than they were when they were new,'' he said, as he looked over the selection about to be loaded for the trip to Richmond. ``And they are much better than anything that would have replaced them. It's kind of like recycling.''
The Windsor chairs recycled by the Suffolk company will join 55 miles of books, manuscripts, documents and more that have been moved to the new library over the last three months, Hathcock said.
The facility is the state's oldest institution dedicated to the history and culture of Virginia. It holds the state's official records from 1607 through the present. Each year, more than 55,000 people from throughout the world visit the library and archives.
Now, the visits will be made a little easier, Hathcock said.
She is excited about the 316,500-square-foot building, ecstatic about the computers and furnishings.
But she probably likes the parking spaces best.
``We're getting 97, free, patrons' parking spaces,'' Hathcock said. ``At the old building, we had a single, half-hour spot.''
The new library - with Windsor chairs restored in Suffolk - will open to the public Friday. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II, The
Virginian-Pilot
The owners of Worth Restoration, Dick Brown, above, and Bobby
Copeland, below right, refurnished the chairs that once graced the
Supreme Court reading room of the Old Virginia State Library and
Archives in Richmond.