New Information & New Mysteries as Restoration Continues at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House2/2/2022 The external restoration at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House is continuing through the winter months and will extend into the spring. Below is a detailed update from Chris Buchanan, Restoration Project Coordinator, on the process of investigating the layers of history hidden in the doors and locks at the house. Interested in past blog posts about the restoration? You can find them HERE. From Chris: The last time Rob and his guys were at the house, they took all of the original doors that were stored in the basement and brought them back to their shop. I asked them to do some paint stripping in the areas around the locks to uncover evidence of the original locksets, and it’s revealing some very interesting information.
The front door, which was added by the Monforts as part of the 1908 remodeling, has an oversized Shawk lock that was mounted upside down. Very odd. On one of the pair of tall doors that were originally installed between the Parlor and the Dining Room is an exact outline of that front door lock, mounted right side up! My current theory is that the Monforts removed the parlor doors as part of the 1908 remodeling, and stuck them in the basement. They removed the big, antique lock from the door, sent it out to be cleaned and checked over, and then repurposed it on their new front door.
Interested in past blog posts about the restoration? Keep reading HERE. About the author:
Chris Buchanan is the Restoration Project Coordinator for the Ohio History Connection and has overseen the restorations of many historic sites throughout the state of Ohio.
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The Harriet Beecher Stowe House continues to undergo restoration efforts as the new year progresses. Additions and renovations had been completed on the house through the ownership of the Montfort family and later a boardinghouse and tavern. Through this restoration, the house will be more similar to when the Beecher family resided there. This will allow visitors to connect with the Beecher family and experience how the home looked when they were residents in the 1830s and 1840s. However, the connections with future homeowners will remain as they will be discussed on tours and one room will remain a replica of a room in the boardinghouse. Through paint analysis testing conducted by experts, the brick was discovered to have been yellow in the 1840s. These 188-year old bricks have up to 17 layers of paint that are being removed. Once the paint is removed, the bricks will be evaluated. The additional brick from future years will be replaced with replica to create a consistent appearance on the exterior of the house. Once the brick is completely stripped of paint and replica is inserted, the exterior will be painted a pale yellow to match the paint analysis discovery. Chris Buchanan, Ohio History Connection’s Restoration Specialist, uses his skills and experience to explain the restoration process of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. The mason work on the house is unique in certain places. The back and sides of the house consist of struck joints in which the mortar used in spaces between the bricks is sloped inward to be flush with the surface. This is a common practice for mason work. The front of the house was created using ruled joints which gave the brick a refined and handmade look to it. On December 15th, the 1908 bay windows were removed. When the Beecher family were residents of the home there was brick wall and smaller windows in place of the bay windows. Through expert observation, it was determined that the original windows were located to the left of the center of the room close to the old kitchen. Smaller windows to better match the appearance of the Beecher home will replace this area on the north side of the house. To see videos of the restoration process, click below.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnlusQRbjQuE5x8o00fsbDRC_lJr_sVks Two landmark cultural centers on either side of The Ohio work to add meaning and relevance to their offerings.
Harriet Beecher Stowe House The big white house at the corner of Gilbert and MLK in Walnut Hills looks dramatically different right now, and a little less white. Restoration crews have been working steadily for several months uncovering the original style and architecture of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. The house’s original Federal architectural style is now clear to see. Keep reading at moversmakers.org. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 22, 2020 Media Contact: Christina Hartlieb 513-751-0651 chartlieb@stowehousecincy.org Watching Time Roll Back at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House House’s original architecture uncovered as porch, paint, and bay windows are removed (CINCINNATI, OH)– The big white house at the corner of Gilbert and MLK in Walnut Hills looks dramatically different right now. Restoration crews have been working steadily for several months uncovering the original style and architecture of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. The house’s original Federal architectural style is now clear to see. Up to 17 layers of paint have been removed from the brick home, revealing infinite details about how the house was constructed in 1832 when it was built as the president’s home for Lane Theological Seminary. The house’s memorable large front porch, which was added in the early 20th century has also been removed, uncovering outlines of the smaller portico from the mid 19th century. Restoration crews also removed large bay windows on both the first and second floors of the home, taking the house’s footprint back to the early 1800s. According to Executive Director Christina Hartlieb, this restoration is daily revealing fascinating new information about how the house was put together and how various members of the Beecher family may have used the rooms during their nearly twenty-year residence in Cincinnati. Revealing the original façade helps the site’s visitors get an immediate sense of the Beecher’s time period in ways that had been more difficult when the history was hidden under decades of new additions. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House remains OPEN to tours by appointment during this restoration project. 2021 book clubs, discussion groups and lectures will begin online in February. Built in 1832, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House was originally the president’s home on the campus of Lane Theological Seminary. It is the final property remaining from the campus in Walnut Hills. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who moved to Cincinnati with her father at the age of 21, lived in Cincinnati for 18 years and went on to write the influential anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in 1852. During the 1930s-1940s the house served as an African American boarding house and tavern listed in the Green Motorist Book. This historic site is located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue in Cincinnati. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is an Ohio History Connection historic site and is managed locally by the Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House. For more information on the site, visit www.stowehousecincy.org or call 513-751-0651. ### ABOUT HARRIET BEECHER STOWE HOUSE The nonprofit Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House manages a Cincinnati home where Harriet Beecher Stowe lived during the formative years that led her to write the best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This historic site is part of the Ohio History Connection’s network of more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information about programs and events, call 513-751-0651 or visit www.stowehousecincy.org. Ohio History Connection The Ohio History Connection, formerly the Ohio Historical Society, is a statewide history organization with the mission to spark discovery of Ohio’s stories. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization chartered in 1885, the Ohio History Connection carries out history services for Ohio and its citizens focused on preserving and sharing the state’s history. This includes housing the state historic preservation office, the official state archives, local history office and managing more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information on programs and events, visit ohiohistory.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 6, 2020 Media Contact: Christina Hartlieb 513-751-0651 chartlieb@stowehousecincy.org 20th century porch and paint coming off to restore 1840s appearance (CINCINNATI, OH)– Site restoration is active at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Walnut Hills, a site of the Ohio History Connection. In the past few weeks, historic restoration experts have removed decorative wooden brackets that were added to “Victorianize” the house in the late 1800s and they have detached the large front porch that was added in the 20th century. Many of these elements are being saved and stored for future museum exhibits. Up to 17 layers of paint are currently being removed through chemical and manual processes, with special attention being paid to safe disposal of all potentially hazardous elements. The paint removal will make way for masonry repair, tuckpointing, and repainting in historically-accurate colors determined through historic paint analysis last summer. This research determined the color of the home at the time the Beechers occupied it in the 1840s was a shade of yellow with dark green shutters. The house remains OPEN to tours by appointment during this restoration project and is also continuing its regular programming schedule online. Built in 1832, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House was originally the president’s home on the campus of Lane Theological Seminary. It is the final property remaining from the campus in Walnut Hills. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who moved to Cincinnati with her father at the age of 21, lived in Cincinnati for 18 years and went on to write the influential anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in 1852. This historic site is located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue in Cincinnati. The Beecher family lived in the home from 1832-1851, including Harriet’s older sister Catherine Beecher, a national leader in teacher training for women and younger sister Isabella Beecher who would go on to be influential in the women’s suffrage movement in Connecticut. The house was subsequently occupied by three generations of the Monfort family who made significant additions and renovations to the home. In the 20th century the site served as a long-term boarding house and had a tavern that was listed in the Green Book. The house was purchased in 1943 by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Home Memorial Association and opened to the public as a historic site in 1949. The site’s last major renovation project took place in the 1970s under the leadership of George Wilson and the Citizen’s Committee on Youth. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is an Ohio History Connection historic site and is managed locally by the Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House. For more information on the site, visit www.stowehousecincy.org or call 513-751-0651. ### ABOUT HARRIET BEECHER STOWE HOUSE The nonprofit Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House manages a Cincinnati home where Harriet Beecher Stowe lived during the formative years that led her to write the best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This historic site is part of the Ohio History Connection’s network of more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information about programs and events, call 513-751-0651 or visit www.stowehousecincy.org. Ohio History Connection The Ohio History Connection, formerly the Ohio Historical Society, is a statewide history organization with the mission to spark discovery of Ohio’s stories. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization chartered in 1885, the Ohio History Connection carries out history services for Ohio and its citizens focused on preserving and sharing the state’s history. This includes housing the state historic preservation office, the official state archives, local history office and managing more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information on programs and events, visit ohiohistory.org. Enquirer: Historic Walnut Hills home of famed author Harriet Beecher Stowe continues restoration8/22/2020 (by Ashley Smith, Fox19, 8/22/2020) The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Walnut Hills is a gem of rich history dating back to the 1800s. Soon it will look more like it did then than it does now. Research on a major restoration project alone has taken almost four years. Work is happening now on the historic home and site to restore the house inside and out to how it appeared in the 1840s when the famed author and abolitionist lived there. Keep reading at Enquirer.com: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/08/22/historic-walnut-hills-home-famed-author-harriet-beecher-stowe-continues-restoration/3418900001/ |
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