Hi all,

I'm a little disturbed by the recent announcement of the restorations going on
at Montpelier. They plan to tear down the duPont additions that were added in
the early 1900s to return the mansion back to its original state when the
Madisons owned it. Now I can understand tearing down a more modern addition but
if something's been around for 100 and added on by a prominent family to boot,
I would think that it would warrant preserving. Afterall, it's not that much
older than the original house. I doubt they'll rip out the "modern" indoor
plumbing, heating and electricity; why destroy other house additions?

The full story is here: http://www.montpelier.org/restoration.htm

I can understand wanting to take off the stucco and get down to the original
brick as well as keeping the house interpretation to the time period of the
Madisons. But it seems to me that there's room to interpret the later addition
as well. Afterall, houses were built to be lived in and have been lived in over
many decades. They weren't meant to be frozen in time.

So anyway, I was wondering if this was bothering anyone else out there in the
museum community. It certainly puts into question what is of historic value and
what is not.

Deb



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