Montpelier's Shrunken State Is Fit for a President

An Unusual Restoration Peels Away the Layers to Reveal James Madison's Home
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From Architectural Record
Josephine Minutillo

As the exterior restoration progressed, provisions for a climate-control system-sufficient to meet the curatorial requirements for collection care and visitor comfort-were considered. MCWB worked with Quantum Engineering to devise a system which would cause minimal intrusion upon both the historic fabric of the structure and archaeological resources, ultimately agreeing on a remote system similar to the one they had installed for the restoration of Poplar Forest, Jefferson's second home. All equipment for mechanical, electrical, security, and fire suppression and detection systems was located in a 1,000-square-foot utility vault situated 18 feet below the rear lawn. Geothermal power provides efficient heating and cooling. Located beside the vault, 12 wells-four groups of three-are buried 400 feet deep. "This is a more desirable system for a historic site," admits Curtis Wilsey, a principal at Quantum. "There is no noise, and no visual clutter."

The house was open for public tours daily throughout the nearly five-year-long restoration process, which celebrated its completion on Constitution Day, September 17, 2008.

Photo courtesy The Montpelier Foundation

 

From the three air-handling units in the vault, conditioned air is conducted to the house via two large, buried conduits that are threaded under the cellar floor. The air is then distributed vertically to the upper floors. Two of the largest vertical risers, conducting supply air for the second floor, pass upward through a series of DuPont-period doorways that needed to be filled in to restore original layouts. In the attic, the air is distributed horizontally, then directed down through the ceilings of the second-floor rooms.  Return air is drawn from the fireplace in each room and rises vertically in the original chimney flues to the attic, where it is collected and redirected down through a reconstructed chimney stack to another buried conduit leading back to the utility vault. Seven heat pumps, used in a variety of heating or chilling combinations, help control air temperature and humidity while allowing for a broad range of conditions. "We weren't constrained by a meager budget. The funds were there to do the job right," says Wilsey, whose work was just a small part of the $24 million overall restoration project, made possible largely by an $18 million grant from the estate of Paul Mellon.

A worker uncovers a decorative wall painting that dates back to circa 1764.

Photo courtesy The Montpelier Foundation

 

Once the installation of these systems concluded, the restoration of interior finishes could be accomplished. Only five photographs exist of the pre-DuPont interiors. Guided by careful "reading" of surviving evidence, the architects developed drawings for all the lost elements. These included the four original stairways, interior trim, doors, fireplace surrounds, and hardware. As layers of history were peeled away, new details were revealed, such as the imprint of an original roofline buried behind a plaster wall or Madison-era paint hidden behind a molding.

The area around the house continues to be an archaeological site.

Photo courtesy The Montpelier Foundation

 

Restorers initially feared that the two original, central staircases-which were removed during later renovations-would forever be "black holes." They eventually discovered just enough physical evidence to understand their form and placement. For one, the exact location, width, and rise and run were preserved in original framing outlines.

 

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Originally published in Architectural Record
Originally published in June 2009

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