The first step in restoring the brick kitchen is removing the heavily damaged late nineteenth century brick floor. We are investigating what lies beneath before rebuilding the flooring.
Pickaxes and sledge hammers.
Much work to be done.
Not yet ready…for prime time or for laundry!
Lightweight building materials…note the chisel marks on the bottom of the stone sink.
It’s very cold! And the work must go on…
Last spring, after artist Lori Wilson (Wilson Decorative Solutions, New Berlin, NY) restored the Dining Room walls to their marbleized 1833 appearance, we were ready to install the reproduction Brussels carpet designed by David Hunt of the Vermont Custom Rug Company. Woven on the looms of the Langhorne Carpet Company in Penndel, Penn., the highly figured Brussels carpet is an exact copy of the 1833 dining room carpet ordered by George Clarke. Closely examining original pieces of carpet that had survived on two ottomans still in our collections, David was able to precisely copy the colors and patterns that made up its body and border. With its installation in late October, Hyde Hall now boasts another great rarity in American house museums: a completely authentic copy of a carpet that once graced this elegant room. Next step: the restoration of the red, worsted wool figured damask curtains that will complete the transformation of our historic American dining room in the best French and English taste.
From Hyde Hall – Fall 2017 Newsletter
Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata played on the Hyde Hall Forte Piano.
Created in Albany between 1830 and 1832, the Osborne & King forte piano is
now playable again thanks to a grant from Douglas Kent. Several new bronze strings
ordered from London replaced ones that had broken, and with a fresh tuning
the piano sounds remarkably well and resonant in the environs of the Drawing Room.
Think a copper pot is just a copper pot? Think again…
Pictured above are two copper pots for the Hyde Hall Kitchen restoration. Nice, but what’s so special?
The restoration of the Kitchen complex requires fitting out with the tools that would have been used originally in food preparation. These recent acquisitions illustrate details that set them apart from today’s manufactures.
Did you know dovetails were used in copper pots? You definitely wouldn’t see this in today’s cookware!
Look at the handmade detail used in attaching these handles! These pots were crafted no later than 1840, and probably earlier.
The handles also show maker’s marks and unique shaping.
There’s more to these copper pots than first meets the eye! We can’t wait to see them in our newly restored Kitchen at Hyde Hall (Restoration in Progress – check back for updates as we go along.)
