Jay House Restoration A Fine Labor of Love

Jay House Restoration
A Fine Labor of Love

– By Janice Llanes Fabry –

Ah, the trials of undergoing a renovation. The chaos, the noise and the dust are enough to send anyone into a tailspin. Inevitably, one small job leads to another until there is seemingly no end in sight. Nowhere are these tribulations more manifest than in a restoration project the magnitude of the Peter Augustus Jay House, the Greek Revival mansion at 210 Boston Post Road. Putting those aside, it is also evident that preserving the history and integrity of this national landmark is also a project of love.

Jay Heritage Center Executive Director Anne Stillman is pleased to announce that the first room is just about entirely restored. The public is invited to its unveiling Sunday, Nov. 26. “It's incredibly exciting to get to this point after all the planning and anticipating,” said Stillman. “All the new discoveries will make the room more beautiful than we dreamed it would be.”

Thanksgiving Weekend seems to be a particularly fitting time for the presentation of the Greek Revival drawing room, whose fate seemed quite dim for a long time while in the hands of a developer. Thanks to the generosity of the Aresty family, the vision of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects, the painstaking efforts of Ashwood Restoration and the perseverance of the Jay Heritage Center, which owns the historic building, the restoration is well underway.

How does one begin to bring back the drawing room to its 1838 grandeur? Restoration carpenters with fine craftsmanship and a lot of patience, conservators and sculptors are essential. Bruce MacDonald is the project manager and president of Ashwood Restoration, Inc. Having become aware of the mansion years ago while serving on the board of the Westchester Preservation League, he was called in when the Jay Center acquired the building in 1992.

“People knew about the Jay family history, but the building itself was a mystery,” said MacDonald. For a 12-year period, the Jay House fell into the hands of a developer. No one was allowed on the property, except for a horror movie crew. According to MacDonald, the only positive thing to come out of “Spookies” was that it documented the building's condition at that time. The movie captured the destruction of interior doors, as well as paint being splattered. Ironically, that paint aided in rebuilding the windows.

“We reconstructed each of the windows with the original parts,” explained MacDonald. “It was a matter of matching broken shards. It required a lot of time, but it was very rewarding.”

When Ashwood Restoration initially got on the job, the windows that weren't destroyed were all painted shut. The 10-foot double hung windows were stripped, so they work effortlessly. As was traditional in the 19th century, guests may now open the magnificent windows and walk out onto the veranda, which looks out over 160 glorious acres.

Ashwood Restoration has been working on the drawing room since June. Head carpenter Jeff MacDonald (no relation to Bruce) is always found on the premises. “This is the project of a lifetime,” he said.

The restoration carpenters are meticulous about protecting any historical significance and remaining faithful to the period. As Bruce MacDonald said, “It will be a challenge to preserve the integrity of the building and all of its historical fabric, including the wood, glass and the masonry, in the face of having to install new heating, plumbing, electrical and a sprinkler system.”

MacDonald and Stillman are quick to point out there is as much joy as labor in the restoration. “The fun part is moving into a room and discovering what secrets it has,” said MacDonald. “The thrill of this drawing room project has been the many discoveries we've made as we went along.”

One of those surprises came when paint analysis determined that the cornice was originally gilded in pure gold. As a result, gold leaf cornice will embellish the drawing room today. While working on the lintel over the door, a notch was discovered at its center. This feature indicated that there had been ornamental cresting over the drawing room doors. In addition, once the lintel was stripped, an entirely different scroll pattern was revealed that will adorn all four windows.

At the center of its 14-foot ceiling hangs a decorative medallion cast from original pieces by sculptor David Flaharty who specializes in them. Flaharty also recreated the medallions in the Blue Room at the White House and the Greek Revival parlor at the Metropolitan Museum.

Leaving no stone left unturned, the marble fireplace will be rebuilt. The drawing room carpet was selected to harmonize with the expansive property just off the porch. The carpet's blue background captures the sky and the Long Island Sound, and its acorn and leaf motif complements the natural landscape. Stillman noted that a bare wooden floor was not fashionable in the period. (It was an unfinished pine floor that was buried underneath.) In addition, an inventory addendum to Peter Augustus Jay's will conclusively indicated that the drawing room floor was decorated with a Brussels carpet.

“It's a giant puzzle,” said Stillman. “Everything gets analyzed and everything is saved and examined by a conservator or an archeologist.”

Adhering to good restoration practices, Ashwood Restoration deliberately leaves some areas with all the paint layers intact. MacDonald explained, “There needs to be a record for future restorers of what was here. We don't know what technical advances there will be in the future.”