Grant will help restore Culbertson Mansion’s second-floor walls to original state

CULBERTSON INFO

• The Culbertson Mansion is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. The cost is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors 60 and older, and $2 for children 3 to 12 years of age.

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July 31, 2012

Grant will help restore Culbertson Mansion’s second-floor walls to original state

By CHRIS MORRIS chris.morris@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Tue Jul 31, 2012, 06:16 AM EDT

NEW ALBANY — The work to restore one of New Albany’s historic jewels, the Culbertson Mansion, never stops. There is always something that needs to be repaired in the 25-room, 20,000-square-foot mansion, which anchors Mansion Row at 914 E. Main St.

Beginning next month, artist Kris Lemmon will begin stripping the paint off of the second floor to see what “hidden treasures” are underneath, according to site manager Kristen Lutes. The Friends of the Culbertson Mansion recently received a matching grant for $3,250 from the Jeffris Family Foundation in Wisconsin to investigate the mansion’s original finishes on the second floor.

The funds will allow Lemmon to uncover floor, wall and ceiling treatments applied during the Culbertson family’s time in the house, before subsequent owners covered them with carpeting and paint. The documentation of these areas is an important step in finishing the restoration of the second floor, Lutes said.

“It’s a slow process,” Lutes said of the work. “We will be stripping layers and layers off the walls, ceiling and floor. The second floor is a work in progress.”

Similar work was completed on the mansion’s first floor in recent years, which added to its beauty, according to Floyd County Historian David Barksdale.

“We had no idea it had these beautiful ceilings and the stenciling on the walls,” he said. “I think trying to bring it back to its original state is just phenomenal.”

Lutes said she was hopeful the Friends group would receive the grant, but said there is always a lot of competition for the funds.

“We are so excited to be working with the Jeffris Foundation,” she said. “They have a strong commitment to the thorough and accurate restoration of buildings throughout the Midwest.”

The Friends of Culbertson Mansion have been raising funds since the mid-1980s for the complete and accurate restoration of the structure. Built by William Culbertson and his second wife, Cornelia, from 1867 to 1869, the lavishly decorated mansion is noted for its hand-painted ceilings and walls. The original designs are investigated and documented before being recreated by artists.

“It’s one of New Albany’s main drawing cards,” Barksdale said.

Lutes said attendance is up this year and Barksdale said the mansion is constantly changing in appearance.

“If you haven’t been there in a year or two, you are missing something,” he said. “It changes from year to year. To see all the wonderful items being put back the way they were will only bring in more people.”

The Jeffris Family Foundation is based in Janesville, Wis., and helps fund historic preservation projects of regional or national significance. The foundation primarily focuses on projects in smaller communities with populations less than 150,000.