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Painting Historic Mansion Takes Years of Research When Recreating the Original Decor of the 1800s
By Karl B. Hille
The Winchester Star
A newlywed couple’s agonizing over paint cards in a Home Depot as the husband feigns interest in the difference between “Soft Kiss” and “Cotton Field” is nothing compared to painting a 200-year old mansion.
Researchers at Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown have studied the historic home’s earliest roots for nine years to try and recreate what the big house looked like in the early 1800s, shortly after it was built.
“There may be some shocking surprises for our visitors in the next few months,” said Elizabeth McClung, executive director. “The tastes in the 1800s were very different from the tastes today. . . . Not everything matched and some of the colors were very bold.”
McClung and museum docents have seen what lies beneath more than two centuries of renovations and re-paintings.
Major Isaac Hite Jr., and his wife Nelly, sister of James Madison, built the house of limestone quarried on the grounds in 1797.
The mansion and grounds, now owned by the National Trust for Historic Places, are designated as part of a national park.
Recreating what that family would have seen when they called Belle Grove home took quite a bit of work.
Two separate paint analyses have been conducted, one to determine the original wall finishes and another focusing on the 1820s when McClung said the Hite family fortunes improved somewhat.
The only real difference they found was more rooms had wallpaper, which was more costly to apply.
With a six-figure series of grants from an anonymous donor, Belle Grove’s interior will undergo a complete transformation in the next few years.
By the end of the restoration, the house should most accurately represent the era between 1800 and 1808, McClung said, when the house was new.
Detailed historical records and faithful maintenance over the centuries have made the job easier.
“The house itself is so intact and has so much of its original historic fabric intact that we have a wonderful foundation to begin our work,” McClung said.
Excellent records preserved with the home have also helped.
Isaac Hite conducted an inventory of each room’s contents in 1837 after the death of his first wife, Nellie Madison Hite.
His second wife, Anne, conducted another inventory after Isaac died in 1851.
In some cases, Hite family descendants have promised or returned original furnishings, and the parlor has all of the original family portraits, in the places they were first hung.
Isaac Hite also kept extensive records of business letters, financial documents, and other receipts.
One, a bill from Samuel Weatherill and Sons in Philadelphia, shows what pigments were ordered for painting the house in 1796.
Those included six pounds each of “Powdered Red Bark Pale” and “Powdered Bark Pale,” 1/2 pound of “Roux pink,” and “Powdered Spanish Brown,” along with two kegs of ground white lead, one keg yellow paint and one keg “Venetian Red.”
McClung said these records, along with the paint studies, helped determine a palette of appropriate colors.
As far as wallpapering, more detective work is needed.
“We don’t know exactly what was here, but we know what was popular in the period,” McClung said. “And we know Nellie Madison Hite got advice from her mother who was at Montpelier, and they have done extensive research too.”
In tracking down the original carpet patterns, she said they got lucky.
Brussels Carpet, the English company that supplied the floor-coverings, is still in business, McClung said, and they have detailed records dating at least to the 18th century.
“We’re trying to track the original purchase so we know exactly what was on the floors,” she said. “All of these (records) are maps that lead us back in time.”
Any renovations to a historic home require intensive research, McClung said. “It’s 80 percent research and 20 percent interpretation.”
Ultimately, however, the value it adds to visitors’ experience of the historic home is immeasurable.
“It’s going to be a definite plus for visitors,” said Ed Presley, program coordinator. “We have endless questions on our guided tours about original paint colors.
“It’s going to be a nice touch to have all the decorative colors in place.”
That will still take some time, however.
Currently, a master plasterer and team are repairing, and where needed, replacing, the original plaster work in preparation for painting and wall finishes.
Belle Grove’s caretakers are working with architects and specialists while the home is closed this winter to devise a comprehensive finishes plan to guide the work.
The plan must consider ways to protect both the home and the investment in finishes, McClung said.
The interior finishes project follows an extensive review of the building structure and outside. Loose mortar on chimneys and exterior stone walls was replaced and the chimneys capped to prevent weather damage seeping through.
Also, out of sight of visitors, small electronic monitors have tracked data on temperature and humidity inside and outside Belle Grove for the last two years.
Because of the extremes of drought and rain, however, the project will continue for a third year, McClung said. A Pennsylvania architectural firm will analyze the data to see what effect, if any, changes in heat and humidity might have on the building and its surfaces.
Some measures already taken to preserve the interior include window shades that block ultra-violet light — to prevent sun damage and fading — and vent fans in the attic.
She also recognized that docents in 100 years may not appreciate the authenticity of these renovations. With that in mind, all painting and wall papering will be done by the least invasive methods.
Wallpaper will be applied over a layer of muslin so it can be removed without damaging the walls.
“Everything done to this house has to be reversible,” McClung said.
By Karl B. Hille
The Winchester Star
A newlywed couple’s agonizing over paint cards in a Home Depot as the husband feigns interest in the difference between “Soft Kiss” and “Cotton Field” is nothing compared to painting a 200-year old mansion.
Researchers at Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown have studied the historic home’s earliest roots for nine years to try and recreate what the big house looked like in the early 1800s, shortly after it was built.
 Jack Iden, lead mason with Millstone Restorations, repairs original 1787 plaster in the nursery of the Manor House at Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown. (Photo by Scott Mason) |
McClung and museum docents have seen what lies beneath more than two centuries of renovations and re-paintings.
Major Isaac Hite Jr., and his wife Nelly, sister of James Madison, built the house of limestone quarried on the grounds in 1797.
The mansion and grounds, now owned by the National Trust for Historic Places, are designated as part of a national park.
Recreating what that family would have seen when they called Belle Grove home took quite a bit of work.
Two separate paint analyses have been conducted, one to determine the original wall finishes and another focusing on the 1820s when McClung said the Hite family fortunes improved somewhat.
The only real difference they found was more rooms had wallpaper, which was more costly to apply.
With a six-figure series of grants from an anonymous donor, Belle Grove’s interior will undergo a complete transformation in the next few years.
By the end of the restoration, the house should most accurately represent the era between 1800 and 1808, McClung said, when the house was new.
Detailed historical records and faithful maintenance over the centuries have made the job easier.
 In the front hall at Belle Grove Plantation, a grandfather clock (top) from Jubal Early is covered in plastic to protect it from dust while plaster restoration is being completed in the Manor House. The bottom photo shows a cut out in a wall in the Manor House with the original 1797 wooden lath and stonework. The restorations have required a great deal of research to determine original paint colors for the decor of the historic house in Middletown. (Photo by Scott Mason)  |
Excellent records preserved with the home have also helped.
Isaac Hite conducted an inventory of each room’s contents in 1837 after the death of his first wife, Nellie Madison Hite.
His second wife, Anne, conducted another inventory after Isaac died in 1851.
In some cases, Hite family descendants have promised or returned original furnishings, and the parlor has all of the original family portraits, in the places they were first hung.
Isaac Hite also kept extensive records of business letters, financial documents, and other receipts.
One, a bill from Samuel Weatherill and Sons in Philadelphia, shows what pigments were ordered for painting the house in 1796.
Those included six pounds each of “Powdered Red Bark Pale” and “Powdered Bark Pale,” 1/2 pound of “Roux pink,” and “Powdered Spanish Brown,” along with two kegs of ground white lead, one keg yellow paint and one keg “Venetian Red.”
McClung said these records, along with the paint studies, helped determine a palette of appropriate colors.
As far as wallpapering, more detective work is needed.
“We don’t know exactly what was here, but we know what was popular in the period,” McClung said. “And we know Nellie Madison Hite got advice from her mother who was at Montpelier, and they have done extensive research too.”
In tracking down the original carpet patterns, she said they got lucky.
Brussels Carpet, the English company that supplied the floor-coverings, is still in business, McClung said, and they have detailed records dating at least to the 18th century.
“We’re trying to track the original purchase so we know exactly what was on the floors,” she said. “All of these (records) are maps that lead us back in time.”
Any renovations to a historic home require intensive research, McClung said. “It’s 80 percent research and 20 percent interpretation.”
Ultimately, however, the value it adds to visitors’ experience of the historic home is immeasurable.
“It’s going to be a definite plus for visitors,” said Ed Presley, program coordinator. “We have endless questions on our guided tours about original paint colors.
“It’s going to be a nice touch to have all the decorative colors in place.”
That will still take some time, however.
Currently, a master plasterer and team are repairing, and where needed, replacing, the original plaster work in preparation for painting and wall finishes.
Belle Grove’s caretakers are working with architects and specialists while the home is closed this winter to devise a comprehensive finishes plan to guide the work.
The plan must consider ways to protect both the home and the investment in finishes, McClung said.
The interior finishes project follows an extensive review of the building structure and outside. Loose mortar on chimneys and exterior stone walls was replaced and the chimneys capped to prevent weather damage seeping through.
Also, out of sight of visitors, small electronic monitors have tracked data on temperature and humidity inside and outside Belle Grove for the last two years.
Because of the extremes of drought and rain, however, the project will continue for a third year, McClung said. A Pennsylvania architectural firm will analyze the data to see what effect, if any, changes in heat and humidity might have on the building and its surfaces.
Some measures already taken to preserve the interior include window shades that block ultra-violet light — to prevent sun damage and fading — and vent fans in the attic.
She also recognized that docents in 100 years may not appreciate the authenticity of these renovations. With that in mind, all painting and wall papering will be done by the least invasive methods.
Wallpaper will be applied over a layer of muslin so it can be removed without damaging the walls.
“Everything done to this house has to be reversible,” McClung said.