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John Bridges began his
apprenticeship as a
stone mason in 1958 in
Oxford, England, where
he worked on restoration
projects at Christchurch
and University Colleges
and at nearby Blenheim
Palace, the home of
Winston Churchill.
He came to Canada in
1966 to work on the St.
Lawrence Hall
restoration, one of
Toronto's Centennial
Projects. He also worked
on the restoration of
Osgoode Hall Law School
and the University of
Toronto.
He formed Summit
Restoration Ltd. in 1974
to specialize in
exterior building
restoration - with the
clear objective of
gaining recognition as
an authority in the
field, and developing
the best company in the
business in Canada.
Under John Bridges'
leadership, Summit has
gained an enviable
reputation through its
work on over 2,500
building restoration
projects, including the
Toronto Union Station
and Old City Hall,
Collingwood Post Office,
the CHUM/City TV
Building in Toronto,
Hiram Walker/Allied
Vintners Head Office
Building in Windsor, the
CN Tower, and the Bank
of Nova Scotia Head
Office in Halifax.
John Bridges formed Old
World Stone in 1990,
partly to provide a
source of original stone
artifacts to match
replacement requirements
in deteriorating
buildings, but also to
answer requirements for
original designs in
stone. Some recent
projects completed by
Old World Stone include
Cleveland Tower at
Princeton University,
Our Lady of the
Immaculate Conception in
Denver, Colorado, and
St. Matthew's Lutheran
Church in Hanover,
Pennsylvania.
Filling a serious gap in
the industry, Old World
Stone now employs a team
of Old World
craftspeople; stone
masons, stone cutters
and stone carvers - all
of whom perform at the
highest level of the
craft to create quality
work that will last.
Mr. Bridges was one of
those instrumental in
founding the provincial
government initiative to
form training programs
for apprentice Stone
Masons and Restoration
Masons and is a member
of the Ontario Ministry
of Development and
Skills Steering
Committee. He is an
annual guest lecturer on
the restoration of
historical buildings at
the University of
Wisconsin Faculty of
Architecture and
Building Sciences.
He is a founding
director of the
International
Association of Stone
Restoration and
Conservation, and has
been a director and
member of the Sealant,
Waterproofing and
Restoration Institute
for a number of years.
He is also a long time
member of the Building
Stone Institute. |
