Home sweet home

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Spring-cleaning can be daunting, but consider the work just completed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Mount Pleasant, the marvelous mid-18th century mansion in Fairmount Park. The task took two years, $1.6 million and a bevy of talented craftsmen and now it’s celebrating the re-opening with its own exhibition.

"Saving a Colonial Masterpiece: Restoring Mount Pleasant" begins in the north pavilion (one of three buildings on the site) and continues throughout the mansion. The show includes illustrations, texts, original building materials and a video presentation depicting the arduous and painstaking restoration process.

The site is once again the highlight of the Fairmount Park trolley tours and, according to museum Director Anne d’Harnoncourt, "The restoration of Mount Pleasant means that visitors can experience this architectural jewel as a journey back in time with extraordinary visual immediacy and attention to detail. It offers a remarkable window into a particular moment in Philadelphia’s and the nation’s history."

As the saying goes,"God is in the details," and the staff has taken meticulous care. Tulips and poplar trees – like those used in the original construction – were harvested in Lancaster County, custom sawed and kiln-dried to match the original wood.

During the work, crews built a steel grid over the entire roof where they went through the delicate operation of removing the rotted ends of 250-year-old beams and replaced them. Individual cedar shingles were split, dressed and shaped to the form of the old shingles.

The team spent hours studying board holes, nails and nail holes, original markings and measurements. They compared other houses of similar age and studied the 1786 work"Rules of Work of the Carpenters’ Company," which was illustrated by the builder of Mount Pleasant, Thomas Nevell.

The Scottish sea captain, John Macpherson, a pirate who made his fortune looting during the French and Indian War, commissioned the building as a country estate for himself and his wife, Margaret. Together, he and Nevell fashioned a home in what is often called a Middle-Georgian style. The museum notes, however, the building’s sources can be found in French-inspired Scottish architecture, which Macpherson knew from his childhood.

The direct inspiration seems to have been such Scottish buildings as Drum House in Midlothian, Craigiehall House in West Lothian and Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute.

The documentation of the house includes this analysis:"Especially reminiscent of Scottish precedents are the projecting, central single bay with the three-part Venetian window on the second floor, the large blocks in the window’s arch, the pair of forward-placed pavilions and the white stucco scored to resemble stone blocks and framed by red brick accents."

Macpherson was a wildly colorful character who sailed his ship, the Britannia, in Caribbean waters, participating in the British blockade of French supply ships in the West Indies. He lost his right arm during the war, but continued to sail.

After Macpherson, the house was host to a variety of tenants, such as the first Spanish envoy to the Continental Congress and then Gen. Benedict Arnold, who was military governor of Philadelphia before he betrayed the Revolution. The government confiscated the home after Arnold’s treason and it passed through a number of owners.

In 1792, it was purchased by Gen. Jonathan Williams (Ben Franklin’s grandnephew) and finally, in 1847, it fell to hosting an open-air German-style beer garden. Philadelphia bought the home in 1869 as a part of Fairmount Park. The museum took over the building in 1920.

The restoration process was headed by David deMuzio, the museum’s senior conservator of furniture and woodwork. In addition to the restoration, the landscape surrounding the house also will be taken back some 250 years. Soon, the view will overlook the Schuylkill and the mansion will be visible from the river.

For now, the home will be left unfurnished so visitors can experience the architectural details and feel the space.

As pointed out by Justina Barrett, museum educator for American art, Colonial Philadelphians put a great deal of value in the role of architecture in their lives. It’s a far cry from the cracker boxes most of us spend our days in.

Saving a Colonial Masterpiece: Restoring Mount Pleasant

Through April 2007
Mount Pleasant Drive
Fairmount Park East
Admission: $3 Trolley tours available: $20 for adults and $13 for seniors and ages 6-18.
215-389-TOUR