Moving the Collection, Part III

Some of the oversized items we had to move out of the building were large and awkward, if not actually heavy. One of the biggest (literally) challenges we faced in was an extremely large painting that was mounted to the wall at the top of the stairwell on the third floor. Aside from the size ( 7 ½ feet high by 13 feet wide), the painting also presented problems in that we could determine very little about it due to its location. How much it weighed, how it was mounted to the wall, and whether or not it could be easily removed from the frame were all things we did not know. The painting turned out to be three problems in one: how to remove it from the wall over an open stairwell, how to pack it, and how to get it down multiple flights of narrow stairs.

When once asked what characteristic he desired most in his generals, French Emperor Napoleon replied, “Luck!” Luck is always a good thing, and we got lucky with the painting. It turned out to be much lighter than we initially thought. To find this out, we had to get the painting off the wall. Before that, however, we had to get to it. For that purpose, we built a platform that was anchored on the third floor landing and extended out into the stairwell. We called it the “deck.” From there, we used trestles to create an additional platform that was the same height as the railing of the landing so that once the painting was off the wall, it could be lowered onto the trestles and then slid gently over the railing and into the hall with minimal stress to the painting. The entire process would be made either very easy or very hard depending on the weight of the painting and the frame. It turned out that the painting and frame were surprisingly light, so once the brackets that secured it to the wall were removed, it was lowered to the trestles and over the railing to the hall in two easy movements.

We were also lucky in that it turned out the frame was easily removed. This further reduced the weight, and also made the painting about two feet smaller in each dimension. This was very good news in terms of getting it down the stairs. So after the frame was removed, the painting was wrapped in plastic and encased in ridged cardboard for the final step in the process.

We had spent a good bit of time prior to the move thinking about just how we would get this painting down the stairs. For those who have never been in the old house at 1805 Pine Street, the stairs are fairly narrow and zigzag back and forth from landing to landing up to the top floor. Even with the frame removed, the painting was too large to turn the tight corners of the stairs at each landing. This gave us pause. But, working with the simple theory, “they got it in here, didn’t they?” we worked out the best plan to get it out. The answer was a gap of about a foot between the stairs as they zigzagged. It was wide enough and deep enough to fit the painting through. The only question was the weight. If the painting turned out to be extremely heavy, we would need to install some kind of block and tackle system to lower it to the ground. As it turned out, because it was not heavy, we were able to secure two straps to the rigid cardboard container and lower it down with muscle power (photos above). In the end, a project we thought might take the better part of a day only took a couple of hours. Luck is a good thing.

In truth, though, while the painting and the heavy objects were challenging, they were not that unusual for the movers. Packing a horse’s head, however, was quite a different matter. But that’s a story I’ll save for next time.