…they would tell us what color they were originally! A grant from the Montgomery County Community Foundation has funded a paint analysis of the Study interior, and specialist Matthew Mosca flew in from Washington, DC, to peel back the layers of paint and tell us what the General’s Study looked like when he used the building.
The walls in the inglenook by the fireplace were a dark shade of blue-green – very similar to the current color of the lower parts of the walls.
The walls in the vestibule were a display of rich jewel tones and gold in a variety of patterns.
The part of the building that may interest the most people, the dome, is proving to be the most difficult. The top layers of paint were not coming off easily, and more analysis needs to be done to ascertain what colors lie underneath. If it’s half as interesting as the rest of the building, we are in for a big surprise!
The big question is what do we do with all this information? As the final analysis results show the different shades of different parts of the building, we will see the scope of what it would take to restore the General’s Study to its original appearance. Even if it’s only one part of the building at a time, we would like for visitors to see the Study as Lew Wallace did!
