From September 2019 to May 2022, the historic Peale building in Baltimore(erected in 1814 by American artist Rembrandt Peale) was closed for extensive interior renovations. In this conversation, a Peale staffer interviews Tim Larkin, who supervised the renovation work at the Peale from 2021 to 2022.
Tim Larkin(00:00): My name is Tim Larkin; I am from Baltimore, Maryland, and I am a construction superintendent.
Heather S. (00:06): And how did you get involved with this line of work, Tim?
Tim Larkin (00:12): In high school, my brother worked for a construction company and when I started turning 15, 16, I needed a summer job, and I just started off doing kind of labor work for a custom home builder. And that kind of just progressed through when I went to college. The days I wasn't going to classes, I would do work as a carpenter by then and you built up from a laborer to a carpenter. Then when I finally graduated college at the end of 2008, it was not a really good job market. And I luckily was able to stay employed and stay in construction.
Tim Larkin (00:57): By the time I got out of college, I was making more money doing carpentry work than I would have with my degree starting off as. So I just kind of continued in construction and just kind of slowly just moved up from a carpenter to a foreman running a crew and then got associated with a general contractor with A.R. Marani, which I'm working at now and became a superintendent. So then I started to be the guy running the jobs in the field.
Heather S. (01:32): Very good. So it sounds like you started off in residential architecture. How in the world did you get involved with these big jobs like the Peale? Is that a really different experience?
Tim Larkin (01:44): It is. I did start off in residential work and I mean a lot of the construction practices carry over from residential to construction to commercial work. The company that I'm with has done some smaller historic renovations. I mean, they've been in business for a very long time. I mean, I think well over 20 years, maybe 30. So they have a very good background to build off of and pursue this kind of work. But the first historic renovation project that I was on was St Paul's Rectory. So there's a St Paul's Church right up there on Charles and Saratoga. They have a rectory building right a block away on Saratoga and I think it's cathedral up there.
Tim Larkin (02:34): So we did a renovation similar style to the Peale's, which we put all new electric in, all new HVAC, all new plumbing. The building was built in 1791. So that was kind of my first introduction to that. All this work is very problem-solving. Everything you do, you got to solve a problem. You can't just like go in and not have any supervision. These guys have to really use their brains where they're running all of their mechanical and electric work. And a lot of times you hit obstacles that you have to figure out the best way. So I am pretty good with problem-solving. And I think that was a trait that they might have seen that I could handle, this complicated type of construction.
Heather S. (03:22): So are there more problems associated with a building like the Peale or St. Paul's versus your average warehouse or commercial building?
Tim Larkin (03:31): Yeah, I would say definitely in general it is. Mostly because of the style of construction where your modern and commercial style building typically is a lot more open. You have the structure of the building is actually kind of built such that you're able to run all your mechanical equipment below the floor joist. Or run your plumbing in certain areas and you don't have to cut through wood beams or wood trusses or things like that . . .
Asset ID: 2022.14.01.b
Transcription abbreviated: Contact the Peale for a complete transcript.
Photo by F. William Chickering
