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Masons ready new niche for 160-year-old gang of gongers

Date Posted: March 17 2006

Since 1931, Gog and Mogog have gonged on the quarter hour atop the Sir John Bennett clock tower at Greenfield Village, an attraction so popular that rows of benches were placed across the street to allow visitors to take a break and watch the action.

The two human-sized figures form the major elements of the clockworks, which once tolled above the Sir John Bennett Jewelry Shop in London, England from 1846 to 1929. When Greenfield Village founder Henry Ford had the building imported to Dearborn, the five-story building was trimmed down to two levels, and the masonry on the front of the building was redesigned to house the clockwork figures.

Seventy-five years later, the masonry above Gog and Mogog, predominately the sandstone, is showing its age. Some wooden beams in the building were also rotten by water incursion. Earlier this month, the beams had been replaced, and the masonry was being torn out, to be replaced by sandstone from the same quarry in England which produced the original building material. Restoration contractor Grunwell-Cashero and a group of BAC Local 1 masons were removing the sandstone, and will set the new stones next month.

"Some of the stone was in pretty rough shape," said Ed Raymond, the project's foreman for Grunwell-Cashero. "There are different types of sandstone, and some wears away faster than others." He estimated that 60-70 pieces of various size stones are being replaced. He said the masonry joints, which typically are the first areas to fail, and the copper straps, which hold the stone in place, were in surprisingly good condition atop the building.

Acid rain might be the culprit in the deterioration of the masonry.

"The joints are still really tight," Raymond said. "A lot of craftsmanship went into the building. With all the new stuff and veneer they're using today, it's awesome to be able to get to work on something like this."

Using lasers, a contractor measured the masonry atop the building to aid in creating forms that will be used to cut the replacement sections.

Jim Johnson, senior manager of creative programs for Greenfield Village, said Henry Ford had a tremendous interest in clocks, and he had agents around the world looking for them to add to his collection. In the 1920s, the John Bennett shop in London was vacated and put up for sale. One of Ford's agents learned the building was on the market, and Ford purchased the structure, had it disassembled and then shipped to Greenfield Village, where it was modified and reconstructed.

The quartet of gongers have provided faithful service since they were relocated. At 15 minutes on the hour, the clock's mechanisms prompt Gog and Magog and two other figures to strike their bells, and they play a portion of the Westminster Chime. They gong the full tune at the top of each hour. Until recently, Johnson said the building's clockworks had to be wound manually, twice a day, like an old grandfather clock. "I used to work in the building, and you could feel the clock ticking," he said. "And when they hit the bells, the whole building shook."

In recent years, an electric motor replaced the original clock works.

Johnson said over the years budgetary constraints prevented the village from performing proper maintenance on the masonry and on the wooden Gog and Mogog figures, but they're now getting the attention they deserve.

In 2004, The Henry Ford started the largest capital campaign in the institution's 75-year history, unveiling a $155 million effort to restore and revitalize numerous holdings of the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, including the John Bennett building.

McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory, Inc. has been contracted to perform the renovations on Gog and Mogog, which they said "have serious deterioration." They are said to be "of glued constructions of carved wood, painted in many bright colors." Next to them are two other figures, representing Father Time and a guardian angel. They were constructed of gilded plaster on concrete bases and are "severely weathered," conservators said. Each has a gilded metal arm that strikes a bronze bell.

Four bronze bells, the largest weighing about 1000 pounds, are also being treated. They will all resume their perch when the masonry renovations are complete at the end of April. The building will also resume its function as a candy store.

According to Johnson, Gog and Magog were mythical 12th Century figures who were patron saints of guild halls in England, and eventually became "protectors" of the British Isles. "It's kind of fitting that tradesmen are doing the work to restore the building, since Gog and Mogog were the patron saints of tradesmen in England," he said.

THE FIGURES OF Gog, Magog, Father Time and a guardian angel, as well as their enclosure, are being renovated. Greenfield Village photo
TAKING A BREAK in front of the Sir John Bennett Clock Tower at Greenfield Village in Dearborn are Darryl Kwiek, Ed Raymond and Ken Hamblin of BAC Local 1 and Grunwell-Cashero.