The Rolfe-Sellers organized square piano. The organ is surrounded by panels of cloth and gilded pipes.
By John Watson
Our good friend and colleague in South Carolina, Tom Strange, recently sent an email with a startling offer. …
Staring down a paradox
A heavy layer of dust and debris under the keys is full of clues, including the only surviving evidence of the original green silk that originally covered the doors.
By John Watson
In the first installment of this blog, I claimed that restoration is a paradox. A paradox is a contradiction, both sides of which are true….
Revisiting the Kitchen Floor.
The kitchen’s clay floor soon after installation.
There is some activity in the Armoury kitchen this week that may attract viewer attention. The clay floor is being pulled up, and a new clay floor is being applied. In this blog post Matt Webster explains the process, why we’ve had to undertake this step, and what we’re learning about 18th-century construction methods. …
Readers’ Questions Update.
Left to right: The north storage building (here, not yet painted), main Armoury building, and kitchen. The storage building is painted with a (simulated) whitewash, the Armoury with white oil paint, and the kitchen with tar paint, reflecting differences in their periods of construction and status.
At the end of November, as the north storage building was receiving its final touches in view of the webcam, Kerry commented: “Nice to see the paint on the new storage building. My question is: did smaller structures not use beaded siding like those of larger ones? Also there was much activity about the paint on the kitchen. Is the white correct for these small buildings? And what color will the tin shop be?” …
The Virtual Tinsmith Shop
While Colonial Williamsburg’s carpenters are still hard at work on the Tinsmith Shop, the modeling team in the Digital History Center has nearly finished its virtual reconstruction. In this blog post, we bring you a preview of the building known in the late eighteenth century as the “Tin shop.” …
Historic Bruton Parish
The landmark church on Duke of Gloucester Street has been adapted and re-imagined many times. Learn what parts are historic and what parts are fanciful imaginings with Architectural Historian Carl Lounsbury….
Conserving the Murray Sisters
Walk through the restoration of an 18th-century painting, a modern process that reveals an ancient artist’s hand….
We built this city: Meet the carpenter
Cream or Yellow?
Many of you have watched and wondered about the Armoury’s changing color scheme over recent weeks. In mid- February, painters applied a coat of yellow paint (below) to the building’s exterior. Less than a month later, that color was painted over with cream (above). Call it research in action, but for the record (and as you will soon see), the final paint color on the Armoury is cream. Because this blog provides a forum for complete transparency about our design and building decisions, we thought we’d explain the process of reaching our color choice.
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Tar Painting Anderson’s Kitchen
Tar painting Anderson’s kitchen
Webcam viewers will notice that, having dried after early April rains, the Anderson kitchen now sports a coat of paint. The decision to use tar paint is a practical one. Used throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, tar paint offers a protective coating that is easily made and applied.
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