(1.31) And the public is invited. So who or what is T. Gunny Harboe? Sounds like a Billy Bob Thornton character; or a football coach, or a roadie for Lynard Skynard; maybe an oil tycoon or a private eye. Why, you could be almost anything with a name like T. Gunny Harboe.
In fact, this Chicago native, and Brown alumnus, is an architect specializing in historic preservation and sustainable design and he will be speaking Thursday at the Providence Preservation Society’s Annual Meeting. Harboe was profiled last year in the Brown Alumni Magazine.
The nitty-gritty of preservation, especially when original elements have been lost, can include analyzing layers of paint and researching fuzzy old photos. Full-scale mock-ups must be created before on-site work can move forward. On rare occasions building codes and technical problems require design changes, but Harboe says he tries to minimize those.
Seen here is a completely out-of-control detail of the cast iron restoration in the Sullivan Center in Chicago — this is a job for T. Gunny Harboe! (Go here to view this and more of the work being done by Harboe Architects.)
Free and open to the public, 5:30pm, Thursday, January 31, List Art Building, 64 College Street, (directions)