Historic houses contain layered stories from the people who have lived there over decades and centuries. Historic house museums often also have additional layers of meaning and mystery created by the process of preservation and restoration. Recently Board Member Emily Taggart Schricker looked back over Elfreth’s Alley Association minutes and the logbook of the restoration of house #126 to learn more about the layers in our museum today.
Save Our Sills!
Houses require maintenance, and our museum windows are in dire need of repair. A good coat of paint and fresh glazing will provide a first line of defense against the elements and protect our houses' interiors. The windows, like the rest of the building, are not just physically important to our museum, but are also critical in our mission to see the past and look towards our future on the Alley.
The Elfreth's Alley Association has set aside funds for projects like this, but this coat of paint will exceed our preservation budget line for 2021--we need your help!
There is a lot of work to do!
This project will involve painting:
14 windows (including reglazing)
2 doors
Metal flashing and wood siding
Help us meet our goal of $6,000 to fund this project by donating at the link below.
https://pages.donately.com/elfrethsalleyassociation/campaign/save-our-sills
Each increment of $500 raised through this campaign essentially pays for one of the doors, and each $350 paints another double-hung window. Follow along as we track our progress on this campaign and the painting itself right here on this blog post!
*UPDATES!*
October 15th: In our first day, you have already contributed $846! Thank you! Already, we have enough funds for one door and one double-hung window—let’s keep it going, spread the word!
October 20th: After a few more donors chipped in, including one for $1,000 (!) our fundraising for this project stands at $1,948! So let’s say we’re at both doors, two double-hung windows, and one of the smaller windows! Still just over two-thirds of the way to go!
January 3, 2022: Matt Valentine of MVPaint has nearly wrapped up the work and our windows are looking so much better! (see photo of work in progress below)
We are still hoping to raise the full cost of this project; currently we’ve raised a little over 50% of the $6,000 goal. Please consider donating!
