At some point in the past the plaster ceilings had been covered over by fiber tiles. I believe that the previous owner, instead of fixing imperfections (cracks and of the like) decided to just tile over them.
The ceiling in the main parlor and stairwell had furring strips nailed up and then the tiles. I have carefully removed the furring strips and the tiles and exposed the ceiling.
Exposing the original ceiling revealed a few things – most good. The ceiling apart from a few cracks here and there is in very good shape – very solid- fixing the cracks using plaster washers and a skim coat will fix that. There were only two spots where the plaster was loose and was removed and lucky for me its right where I have to go to replace the old nob and tube electrical. Patching that area will be an easy task after the electrical has been run with new wire.
Once the parlor ceiling was exposed however, I discovered that there had been at one time a ceiling medallion in the center of the room. Thats not an uncommon thing for the time. The medallion footprint measure almost 30 inches – Ill have to find one.
I’d love to replace the medallion and after a quick search identified a few places where I can get true plaster medallions.
The only other surprise that I came across besides the ceilings being
solid and the removed medallion was that I found indication that there had been a beam or boxed woodwork that separated the room visually from the staircase area. I suspected that there had been some sort of divide by the marks on the original floor but only now had evidence of such from the ceiling.
When discussing this with the family historian, as noted in my previous post, she confirmed that indeed there was a very graceful arch supported by two columns atop a simple book case which came in about two feet from each side. She is digging through old photographs to see if she has any of it. If I can I’d 
love to recreate it albeit I’ll definitely need some help from a woodworking bud of mine.
I know that tastes change through the years but it seems rather drastic to remove such an architectural element. Perhaps someone felt that by removing the arch gave more room along the staircase – the distance between the staircase and the edge of the arch would have been just over three feet according to the marks on the floor. I personally do not think that is too narrow but maybe they did – who knows why people do such things.
First things first though as the new electrical has to be run.
Have you ever had to replace a ceiling medallion? I have seen the plastic reproductions as well as an assortment of foam medallions but I cant bear the thought of going through all this and then putting plastic on the ceiling. I know that it would be hard to tell the difference once it is up but I’ll know. I’ll keep looking for just the right plaster medallion.
Have you any thoughts on the matter?
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Hey Sean — I will definately check them out. – Yes — I have not yet thought about how to attach other then using wet plaster as they once did — but perhaps the screws would be good — I’ll find Cliffs — THANKS!
I bought a plaster ceiling medallion at Cliff’s Variety in San Francisco – they have a huge selection and attached it to the ceiling with some very long a carefully placed drywall screws – which went into the lath and held up just fine – You could spread some liquid nails or the like to make it a more permanant installation, I didn’t because it was in a rental. Cliffs has a website and might try contacting them and they may be able to direct you to their supplier or send you some pictures to choose from. My medaillion is about 30″ across and has cranes and cattails, and was $80.00