After months of careful preparation, the Dickinson Homestead went from bare red brick to light ochre almost overnight.
The Homestead was painted in various color schemes from the time of its construction in 1813 until 1916. The house began as a fashionable Federal style house, one of the earliest brick structures in Amherst, and originally painted red to mask the color and texture variations of bricks and mortar. Subsequent changes to the house in the 1830s and 1840s introduced Greek revival architectural features as well as stylish white paint on the facades exposed to more public scrutiny.
Emily Dickinson's father, Edward, made extensive interior and exterior alterations to the Homestead in 1855, including the addition of an Italianate cupola, veranda, and other details. He finished the house in an ochre and off-white paint scheme, one that it wore until 1916, when new owners removed all layers of paint through a sandblasting process and painted the woodwork white in accord with early twentieth-century colonial revival tastes.
Over time, wear and tear on the unprotected masonry led to deterioration of mortar and brick.
Wood architectural elements also suffered from unrelenting exposure to weather extremes.
Chemical and color analysis of paint samples from all parts of the building enabled the Museum to follow through on its interpretive goal of enhancing the public's understanding of the poet's life by presenting the Homestead as Emily Dickinson knew it during her writing years.
The restoration project began in March 2004 with the removal of aging aluminum storm windows.
Masons repointed areas of failing masonry and replaced powdered bricks.
Carpenters repaired and restored nearly 100 shutters, window sash, and other architectural elements. Then wood details were painted while work continued on the masonry.
When the Italianate cupola was painted, the "new" old color scheme began to attract attention.
After the brick and mortar dried out from steady summer rains, it took the painting crew only three days to change the color of the body of the Homestead!
View of the veranda from the west.
View from the east.
The restoration project complete.
For more news about the Emily Dickinson Museum, return to Press Information.
