Restoration Update
Not much has happened (visually) in the past few weeks. The plaster has cured and now is hard and ready to work with. Matthew Weil has stripped the picture rails in preparation for their being refinished. After several layers of paint were removed much more detail on the rails can be seen. Most interesting, was the discovery of a copper colored accent. Gold accents were very common during the period, but copper was unexpected.
In the office, gold leafing was confirmed and a dark green background in the center section was found. Both of these details were reported in the report done for FWHA by the graduate students at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
On the left is an image of the revealed copper powdered rail in the parlor and details of the of the office picture rail is on the right.
- Picture rail in Rest Cottage parlor
