In December, our museum suffered an extensive fire of an 1830's Greek
Revival home.  The estimated damages for repair of the kitchen wing (the
area that was totally lost) and smoke and heat damage to the rest of the
house will be between $700,000 to $900,000.

Due to the special nature of restoring this home to museum standards, there
are a great number of issues that insurance companies are not used to
considering!  Things like replacing period wallpapers and lighting
fixtures.

Does anyone have experiences they could share about their successes and
failures in negotiating with the insurance companies?  I am interested in
the strategies deployed to receive the highest possible settlement.  How
did you negotiate with the insurance company regarding the depreciation
issue when they applied it to the home and interior finishes?

Any help or references would be appreciated.

Douglass McDonald
Genesee Country Village & Museum
Mumford (Near Rochester) New York
716-538-6822
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