Jerry Ottavino tried to sell a complete retooling of Brooklyn Borough Hall in
the mid-80's as a means of correcting damaged Tuckahoe marble, but in our
combined mutual wisdom, it was decided to repair using dutchmen cut from an
on-site "quarry" of original Tuckahoe, consisting of monster slabs at the
base of a monumental flight of exterior stairs.  The dutchmen on the building
are still --or even more--visible now, and the slabs at the base of the
stairs are gone, replaced with a sea of bluestone pavers about 2' x 4' .

I didn't like the idea of the retooling then--I don't think it would've come
out right and original 1840's carving would have been lost-- and I don't like
the look of the dutchmen now.  But I don't know that anybody could've done
any better, either.

I suspect that the bottom line is, there are limits to what we can do, and
that the two girls at  41 are eventually going to turn into two at 42 (God
willing, Rev. Jim). And us boys, too. And we don't any of us want to be
traded in for new models, now do we?  But we could be Dryvitized, retooled,
or fitted with dutchpersons in certain strategic locations where the original
equipment has failed.

Ralph