Steeplejack Takes Precision to Towering Heights

Marty Quinn’s idea of fun is hanging in rigging 80 feet over the sidewalk--without a net.

That’s what he did a decade ago, when he placed the gold-leaf grasshopper weather vane atop the Fanueil Hall Market Place, now one of tourists’ favorite stops in Boston.

“That’s a fun job,” Quinn said. “There’s a lot of recognition when you’re doing gold-leaf work.”

Quinn, 32 and the father of two, is a steeplejack and president of Skyline Engineers Inc. of Fitchburg, one of the few U.S. companies specializing in the repair and care of steeples, towers and domes. It was started 37 years ago by his father, John D. Quinn. One of Marty’s brothers, Steve, 29, is a vice president.

Over the last 20 years, Skyline has regilded the celebrated Charles Bulfinch Statehouse domes on Beacon Hill in Boston and in Hartford, Conn., and other capitol domes in Denver, Atlanta, Montpelier, Vt., and Concord, N.H.

“I think there are only 12 statehouse domes in the country that are gold-leafed,” said Quinn. “It’s only a matter of time before we do the rest of them.”

Gold leaf is the high art of the trade, Quinn said. The material comes from the one U.S. supplier, M. Swift & Sons of Hartford, in 23-carat strips that are 3 1/8 inches wide, 67 feet long and ever so thin.

“You can see it between your fingers, but you can’t feel it,” Quinn said.

“Gold-leafing is extremely specialized work, and complete restoration to authenticate material is another extremely precise task,” he said. “We need qualified craftsmen who can duplicate carvings and moldings. That is a speciality in itself.

“Most of the time, we train people and bring them up through the ranks. You need to be a jack of all trades--masonry, carpentry--but you’ve got to do it in the air. Basically, all it takes is a respect for height. I won’t call it a lack of fear. . . . We’ve never had a serious accident.”

Quinn said he started climbing as a 16-year-old part-timer for Skyline.

“I don’t do it for the thrill of it,” said Quinn. “I grew up with it.