THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 22, 1995 TAG: 9503210133
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Historic Francis Land House is undergoing a personality change.
Its understated, colorless interior is becoming bright and vibrant.
The parlor woodwork already has been painted a glossy bright blue and, before too long, you'll see the varnished wood paneled walls of the dining room turn a shiny blue/green and the baseboards and window seats, a shiny black.
``Now you'll see how colorful the Land family really was,'' said Land House administrator Mark Reed.
The Francis Land House Board of Visitors hasn't gone off on a 20th century psychedelic lark. They're actually returning the interior of the house closer to the way it really was when the Francis Land family lived on the plantation in the 18th and early 19th centuries, Reed said.
The board chose the bright blue paint for the parlor because it was a color traditionally used in the 18th century. The color has no connection to the Land House decor that they know of.
On the other hand the board hired Matthew J. Mosca, a historic paint analyst of Artifects Ltd. in Baltimore, to discover what color the dining room really may have been when the Lands lived there. As a result of the analysis, the room will be painted in the blue-green color with black trim, a close estimate of what was actually there many years ago.
In January, Mosca pored over the paneling in the dining room searching for minute specks of paint along the edges, and in the nooks and crannies of the varnished pine. Since the woodwork was known to have been stripped and varnished in the 1950s, whatever paint Mosca came up with typically would have been the first layer ever brushed on, Reed said.
Mosca found evidence of paint in various pieces of paneling throughout the room. Once Mosca showed Reed a little black dot smaller than the head of a pin. `` `That's paint,' he told me,'' Reed said.
Back at his lab, the analyst examined the minute samples under a microscope to help discern both the color and the materials used in mixing the paints. He also used ultra violet light to bring back the true color of the paint before it had faded over time.
The fact that colors do fade with the years had not been taken into consideration when the traditional Williamsburg blue, green and other hues were established as authentic Colonial colors. That's why the Williamsburg colors look so pastel, Reed explained.
Nor did earlier historians account for the yellowing that takes place over time in the linseed oil base which would also alter the paint's original shade. Linseed oil was the base for all paints up into the early part of the 19th century. The oil gives a shiny look to the finished product, even shinier than high-gloss paints of today.
``In the last 20 years, there's really been a change in the understanding of the use of (historic) paint colors,'' Reed said.
The new blue woodwork in the Francis Land House parlor is a great example of the kinds of colors Colonial folks are thought to have used. Since there appeared to be little if any original woodwork in the parlor, a scientific analysis might have been futile.
So the board decided to pick a paint color from a paint chart produced by Historic Paints Ltd. in East Meredith, N.Y. Historic Paints makes 18th and 19th century paints for those who wish to accurately restore homes and buildings. The board chose a blue called ``lead colour'' but it doesn't look leaden. It's vibrant.
Now Reed has been in touch with Historic Paints to send down white, Prussian blue and light yellow ochre. Those are the colors which, when mixed, will approximate the color that Mosca found hidden in the dining room paneling. There will be other changes in the dining room, too.
The board voted to replace the dining room's historically inaccurate side door with an authentic heart-of- pine reproduction door. They also decided to cover the unauthentic ceiling planking with dry wall and a simulated white wash.
``It will look more appropriate to the times,'' Reed said. ``We'd like to continually improve our interpretation of this plantation house in the 18th and early 19th century.''
P.S. CHECK OUT THE NEW BLUE PARLOR and imagine what the dining room will look like at the Gathering of the Guilds from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Francis Land House. Members from 13 local craft groups such as the Tidewater Weavers Guild and the Back Bay Wildfowl Guild will give demonstrations and answer questions. The program is free.
OLD HOUSE/HISTORIC HOUSES: Preservation/Restoration is the topic for the Princess Anne County/Virginia Beach Historical Society meeting at 3 p.m. Sunday at Pleasant Hall, 5184 Princess Anne Road. Kelly Sinclair, director of the Center for Historic Houses of the National Trust for Historic Preservation is the speaker.
The meeting is free and open to the public.
THE LOGGERHEAD SEA TURTLE is featured in a program at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
Call 721-2412 for reservations. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Mark Reed, Francis Land House administrator, shows off the new paint
job after a paint analyst was brought in to discover the home's
original colors. ``Now you'll see how colorful the Land family
really was,'' he said.
by CNB