Press Release for Blithewold
Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum
A Restoration
Collaboration
~~~
The
Champlin Foundations awarded Blithewold a grant of $75,000
to stabilize and restore Blithewold's 100 year old Summer
House and bordering historic landscapes. Working in partnership
with Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum, the project
will utilize the combined resources and expertise of both
Roger William's University's Historic Preservation Program
in Bristol, RI, and the Institute of Preservation Technology,
Goodwill Industries Historic Preservation Division in Providence,
RI., through an educational and crafts training collaborative.
The project will follow the Secretary of Interior Standards
for Rehabilitation, and be defined according to the extensive
historic documentation in Blithewold's archives and existing
structural evidence, while considering the building's current
and future use.
The mission of the Roger Wiliams University
Historic Preservation program is to provide students with
the knowledge, skills, and understanding necessary to meet
succesffully the challenges involved in preserving our physical
and cultural heritage, while providing students with a broad
liberal arts background throug hthe University Core Curriculum.
The students study topics such as architectural conservatio
and preservation planing, gaining professional experience
and hands-on training through internships, laborartory and
field works, and group projects Under the aegis of professor
Kevin Jordan students from RWU Historic Preservation program
will participate in the project, through crafts training,
research, and project documentation.
IPT's objective is to incorporate the professional
practices of historic preservation with on-site crafts training
and site specific curricula. Their goal is to exchange professional
experiences with organizations and individuals through historic
preservation project collaborations. Working with the Roger
Wm. University students from the Historic Preservation Program,
the IPT preservation staff and the preservation network
is providing the necessary instruction and training.
The Institute for Preservation Training (IPT)
is a program of Goodwill Industries of Rhode Island. IPT's
mission is to incorporate the professional practices of
historic preservation with on-site crafts training and site
specific curricula. IPT's goal is to exchange professional
experiences with organization and indivudals through project
collaboratives. Since 1995, IPT has had several student
exchanges with RWU, providing the guidance and expertise
for each preservation project activity. IPT is providing
the necessary craftspeople to accomplish this project's
scope.
The summer House is part of the original estate serving
as a vital landscape element and social centerpiece. An
octagonal building, measuring approximately 12 feet on ea
ch side incorporates desing features typical of the late
19th century. The building is integral with the surrounding
landscape, with a columned proch a single step off the path
to both the Enclosed Garden the the wodland Bosquet. The
Summer House, was a retreat built to provide the family
with a place to not only entertain but to enjoy the surrounding
beauty of their home. In prior years, Blithewold had used
the Summerhouse for educational programming. Within in recent
years, the structure had fallen into serious disrepair and
was in danger of collapse.
The Summer House had become a victim
of love. The owners of the Blithewold were avid horticulturists
who worked hard on landscaping the grounds. Over the years
the Summer House had become dwarfed by the many maturing
exotic trees, shrubs and herbaceous plantings which surrounded
it. All of this contributed to an encroaching damp which
over the years caused the center masonry to shift, carpenter
ants to infest the woodwork, and biological decay of the
roof and decorative elements. The grant award from the Champlin
Foundations for the Summer House project is divided between
four categories of support. It includes $45,000 for the
Stabilization and restoration work of the building, $10,000
for a maintenance endowment, $5000 for consultants, and
$15,000 for the stabilization and replacement of surrounding
vegetation of the woodland known as The Bosquet, and The
Enclosed Garden, home to the east coast's largest mature
Giant Redwood, the Sequoia. The Summer House project began
work in Late February under the supervision of Kevin Jordan,
Professor in the Historic Preservation program at RWU, Robert
Cagnetta, Project Manager for IPT, and Alexandra O'Donnell,
Project Supervisor for Blithewold. The summer House restoration
will be completed by June 1st by the craftsmen of IPT. As
RWU students sign off they will hand over to Blithewold
a written and photographic documentation report and a maintenance
program and schedule for the coming years. The stabilization
and replacement of historic vegetation will take place over
the next year according to optimum planting times.
