Masonry Magazine August 2002 Page. 36
Pentagon Bybee Stone
SERIES
Bybee Stone fabricated the pieces to dimensions on original 1941 drawings.
You really put your heart and soul into it. That stone is going to the Pentagon.
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many quarries," Bybee recalls. "Now we don't have anything close to that. Even so, they were really stressed to get that much block out, fabricate it, and get it on site.
Luckily, the original plans, or at least some of them, were still available. Bybee explains the sequence of events leading up to the first shipment. "Masonry Arts found some 1941 drawings. We were given shop drawings that fabricators used then. Apparently they had almost 2,000 draftsmen working on making the drawing. While they were for a different section of the building than where we were working, they were close enough that we could at least get detail information.
"We made three trips and sent draftsmen to the site. Masonry Arts, the general contractor, and the architect supplied us with information. Of course, they wanted us to move quickly and be done in March or April, so we couldn't spend much time collecting information. I think everybody jumped through a lot of hoops to get the job done properly and to give us time to fabricate it and have it ready for them when they needed it."
In an article in the Washington Post, Bybee Stone employees are quoted about the emotional impact of working on a project of such significance. In the article, Christina Pino-Marina wrote about Jeremy Epeards, a 23-year old planer operator whose father and grandfather once worked in the same stone plant. "You really put your heart and soul into it. I mean, that stone is going to the Pentagon. It's something to really be proud of."
"I think that all the people that work here were emotionally involved," Bybee says quietly. "This is different than our normal job. Not from the technical standpoint, but for why we were doing it. Everybody gave it a little extra all the way through. Most of the people that work here were affected in
Stonemasons set one of the Bybee limestone units near the top of the Pentagon as the project nears completion.
34 Masonry
August 2002
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