Shakespeare's Globe Center--USA: Center for Globe Research

Architectural information on the current reconstruction

Knowledge of timber-frame construction has never fully died out in England but there are few experts in the field. The Globe was lucky to find McCurdy & Co, who gained their expertise from years of carefully dismantling 16th and 17th century timber-frame buildings in order to reassemble them on other sites for preservation. But even their skills have been tested by the complexity of the Globe joinery and a great deal of time is spent in research.

New timber framing like that done for the new Globe usually uses fresh cut, or green, wood. The pieces are fitted together and fastened by inserting a wooden peg (see illustrations below). The wood shrinks as it dries, making an amazingly strong and tight structure.

Here's an example of a standard joint in the Globe reconstruction. This one is up on top of the third gallery (the highest), forming part of the roof line.

Here, a worker inserts wooden pegs into the structure. Once in place, the pegs are sawed and sanded flush to the frame, resulting in an extremely sturdy joint.

This is a close up of the finished skeleton of the first two bays.

One of the first sections to be completed was this one in April of 1995.

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Questions? Email the Research Archive(globe@deans.umd.edu)
updated on: 1 March 2002