Enfilade

The following conference takes place next month at Williamsburg:

The Chesapeake House
Colonial Williamsburg, 19-21 May 2013

To mark the publication of The Chesapeake House: Architectural Investigation by Colonial Williamsburg by the University of North Carolina Press, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation will offer a three-day conference focusing on the methods used by architectural historians at Colonial Williamsburg to investigate buildings as well as review new discoveries in the field. The Chesapeake House is a major scholarly landmark that will set the standard for the analysis and history of early Virginia and Maryland architecture for the coming decades. The seventeen essays are based on the collective scholarship of nine authors who have been involved in research in this field for the past three decades. Participants in the conference will receive a copy of the book as part of their registration.

Through a series of lectures, conversations, and specialized tours of the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg, The Chesapeake House conference provides an insider’s view of how Colonial Williamsburg’s experts examine historic buildings. The program will appeal to teachers, students, preservationists, and other professionals in the field as well as friends of Colonial Williamsburg and members of the general public with interests in old houses, American history, restoration, and historic preservation. Presentations will explore the practice of architectural fieldwork, the nature of regionalism in building design, and the development of a distinctive framing system in the colonial period. Specialists will discuss the latest techniques of dendrochronoly and paint analysis.

There will be a special audience participation session entitled “How old is your house?” Often, it is one of the first questions homeowners ask and it is always essential for architectural historians to determine. Yet, such a basic query is often hard to answer. Assessing the age and alterations made to buildings is challenging since the process involves piecing together disparate kinds of evidence found in many different parts of a house, from the attic to the cellar. How was the frame constructed? What kind of bonding pattern does the chimney have? What sort of hinges are on the doors? Some details provide solid diagnostic clues while others are less helpful. However, when combined, they can provide plausible dates to within a few years or decades.

Curious about the age of your old house or one you know? Here is your chance to start the process of figuring it out. “Making Sense of the Evidence” will provide an interactive opportunity to review and analyze the material you submit with other participants. This session will demonstrate how the experts read the evidence from the field to make a reasonable estimate of the age of a house based on its form, construction, and style of various features.

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Cary Carson and Carl R. Lounsbury, eds., The Chesapeake House: Architectural Investigation by Colonial Williamsburg (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013), 488 pages, ISBN: 978-0807835777, $60.

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S U N D A Y ,  1 9  M A Y  20 1 3

4:00  Welcome, Colin G. Campbell, president and CEO, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

4:15  “Publishing The Chesapeake House,” David Perry, editor-in-chief and assistant director, (retired), University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill

4:30  “Rendering The Chesapeake House,” Jeffrey Klee, architectural historian, Colonial Williamsburg

M O N D A Y ,  2 0  M A Y  2 0 1 3

8:30  The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg open for conference participants

9:00  “Why Architectural Fieldwork?,” Edward Chappell, director, architectural and archaeological research department, Colonial Williamsburg

9:45   Coffee

10:15  “What makes Chesapeake Architecture Regional?,” Carl Lounsbury, senior architectural historian, Colonial Williamsburg

11:00  “Timber Framing: The DNA of Chesapeake Architecture,” Willie Graham, curator, architecture, Colonial Williamsburg

1:15  Revolutionary City programming. Looking at Architectural Details. Participants will be divided into four groups and will rotate around in order to participate in all four sessions:
• Timber Framing, Willie Graham, Booker Tenement
• Brickwork, Carl Lounsbury, Wythe House, Cole House, and Courthouse
• Hardware, Edward Chappell, Ken Schwarz, Armoury
• Architectural Elements, Jeffrey Klee, Hennage Auditorium

4:30  “Making Sense of the Evidence, or Stump the Chumps,” Cary Carson, Edward Chappell, Willie Graham, Jeffrey Klee, Carl Lounsbury, and members of the audience. Review of images of buildings and details submitted by members of the audience

6:30  Reception at the home of Margaret Pritchard

T U E S D A Y ,  2 1  M A Y  2 0 1 3

8:30  The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg open for conference participants

9:00  “How Dendrochronology has Changed Architectural Research,” Michael Worthington, dendrochronologist, Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory, Baltimore

9:45  “Paint Analysis in Architectural Investigations,” Susan Buck, conservator and paint analyst, Williamsburg

10:15  Coffee

10:45  “Off the Wall: Textile and Paper Hangings in the Chesapeake House,” Margaret Pritchard, curator, prints, maps, and wallpaper, Colonial Williamsburg

11:30  “Furnished Lives,” Cary Carson, vice president of research (retired), Colonial Williamsburg