Slippery Rock Gazette

Bob Murrell 

M3 Technologies

Photos by Bob Murrell

The restoration of what is now called the Trotter Building, is the subject of this article and the next. This property, which is sometimes referred to as the First Century Bank Building, as this is the anchor client of the property, has a very interesting history. I love being involved with historic property restoration projects! 

The Trotter Building, originally called The General Building, is located in downtown Knoxville, TN. It is 14 stories tall and almost 100 years old, originally  opened for business in 1925. It is currently owned and operated by John Trotter of Trotter & Company. The main commercial anchor is First Century Bank. There are meeting spaces used by the boards of local non-profits and has been used by dozens of banks, physicians, and financial and architectural firms. Trotter & Company is currently remodeling a large portion on the ground and second floors, to accommodate a new upscale restaurant which is to be called Church & Charles.

Façade of the historic 14 story Trotter (General) Building in Knoxville, Tennessee.

This is a special building in the history of Knoxville. It was designed by American architect Charles Ives Barber, of Barber & McMurry. If you remember, I have consulted and worked on several of his well-known projects, such as, The Candoro Marble Company Office Building. He also did several private residences, the TVA Building, Church Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Knoxville YMCA, several buildings of the University of Tennessee campus, and other structures around the Knoxville area.   

The Trotter Building is a Gothic or renaissance-revival high-rise with a rusticated limestone covering the first three stories. All four corners are delineated by concrete quoins and the roof is decorated with a terra cotta cornice. In 1998, the General Building (Trotter) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture and role in Knoxville’s commercial history.

The once-elegant Pink Tennessee marble stairs needed full restoration.

As there have been multiple banks in the building through the years, there are two large vaults. There is one in the basement and one on the first floor. These vaults are huge!

The vault on the lobby floor will serve as the bar for the new restaurant Church & Charles. One phase of the project is resurfacing the concrete vault floor. 

Before and After: The Concrete floor in the vault, where the bar will be located, was ground with 8 segment 46 grit Magnum metal-bonds and finished with black dye and Majestic Concrete Guard applied.

This concrete floor had leftover adhesive and was in dire need of restoration from wall to wall. It was ground using the Magnum 3-inch 8 segment 46 grit metal-bond diamonds. The edges or borders, up against the walls, was cut in using ELF5 40 grit Flexible metal-bond diamonds with a Makita hand tool. Next, the floor was cut using HC3 Superior Hard phenolic resin 50 grit, the 100 grit, and finally 200 grit. These were all done wet with a slow speed machine. One thing I would have preferred on the vault floor would have been to use the HTC-500 planetary machine. It would have been so much more efficient. However, 220 volt service was not available so that’s why the single disc machine was used. 

Once the floor had been cut to a nice hone at the 200 grit level, it was decided to stain the floor black. An acetone black dye was used and sprayed twice to ensure consistency. 

After the dye had dried sufficiently, Majestic Concrete Guard was used to lock in the dye and protect the floor. After all, it was a working bar area and was expected to receive plenty of acidic spills from mixing and serving drinks. Two applications of the Concrete Guard were applied with the possibility of a third, if it was needed. The applications were applied thinly so as not to puddle. The floor turned out really nice! It looked like mottled black leather with a sheet of glass on top of it.

Second floor stair landing. Notice the deep scratches in addition to the remaining adhesive residue.

There is a set of marble stairs that needed to be completely restored. The marble is Tennessee Pink, of course, because if you’ll remember, Knoxville is sometimes referred to as the “Marble City,” due to all of the local quarriers and finishers that are part of the city’s history. The stairs had been covered in carpet. When the carpet was removed, we discovered the stairs were scratched pretty badly, by whoever did the removal process. Also, if you notice in the photo, the risers were removed as these were made of wood. They will be replaced with the wood that matches the rest of the wormy curly wood in the restaurant. 

The scratches were so bad that the metal-bond ELF5 was necessary to remove them. The stairs and landing were pretty beat up, so this was a fairly lengthy grinding process. After the initial battle zone was cut with the 40 grit, a 70 grit ELF5 was then used to start the honing process. Next, the floor was cut using a 100 grit DICP5 resin disc. This smoothed the stairs out and made them ready for color enhancement using Akemi Color Intensifier. A nice hone and color enhancement is perfect for stairs, leaving the slip resistance just right. The stairs looked very nice and the client was very happy with the finished look.

Tennessee Pink Marble stairs after careful restoration– grinding, honing, and impregnating/sealing with Akemi Color Intensifier.

Next on the project list was the kitchen area. This area was terrazzo that had been covered in vinyl tile. The tile had been removed but the remaining adhesive was both thick and hard. A test was performed using the same Magnum 46 grits used on the vault floor, to remove the adhesive and reveal the terrazzo. 

In next month’s article, I’ll cover the finished project and hopefully be able to tell you how good the food is, too. It’s always nice to see how the finished project turns out. I expect this one will be quite a stunner!     

As always and before beginning any new project, I recommend submitting a test area to confirm the results and the procedure, prior to starting a stone or hard surface restoration/maintenance project. Also, the best way to help ensure success is by partnering with a good distributor, like BB Industries, that knows the business. They can help with technical support, product purchase decisions, logistics, and other pertinent project information.

Bob Murrell has worked in the natural stone industry for over 40 years and is well known for his expertise in natural stone, tile, and decorative concrete restoration and maintenance. He helped develop some of the main products and processes which revolutionized the industry, and is currently the Director of Operations for M3 Technologies.

Send your comments and questions to Bob at attn:publisher@slipperyrockgazette.net .