I wrote this in a 1992 article on cornices:

<   COULD deterioration cause a return of cornices to other "scalped"
buildings?
<Of half a dozen restoration professionals interviewed at random, five said
they
<have never seen any evidence of a rain-shielding function by a cornice. They
<said the problems that followed cornice removal probably arose because the
<alteration itself was poorly done.

<   But one professional, Richard Pieper, has a different view. His Manhattan
<firm, Jan Hird Pokorny Architects, restored the exterior of the Verona
apartment
<house at 64th Street and Madison Avenue, which has a cornice eight feet deep.
Terra cotta and other elements at the upper stories -- shielded by the cornice
<-- were indeed in better condition than those lower down, he said.

If, in 1992, 5 out of 6 professionals said they had never seen evidence of
weather-shielding by cornices, what is the verdict as of 1999?

Christopher Gray