Earlier this year the American Wing implemented a systematic program with the aim of improving the experience of visitors to its galleries. This project incorporates concerted efforts by the Museum's curatorial and conservation staff that focus particularly on existing period rooms, in order to evaluate them in terms of clarity of presentation and the authenticity of their architectural elements. Among the works that have benefited from this review is a fragment of an eighteenth-century domestic interior with English-style fireplace, two cupboards, and applied fluted columns, panels, and moldings (Figure 1). Acquired in 1933, the paneling was mounted in February of the following year in "A Loan Exhibition of New York State Furniture with Contemporary Accessories," and several months later became part of the permanent installation in the New York Alcove on the third floor of the American Wing. The source of the interior was said to be a colonial stone house near High Falls, N.Y., but this claim was never substantiated and in the intervening years many questions concerning stylistic and structural details of the paneling have been raised.

Built in 1752 by an unidentified owner, the High Falls residence was purchased in 1802 by Benjamin Hasbrouck (1764–1843), a member of the large Huguenot community in Ulster county, who expanded and modernized it in the neo-classical style in 1806 (Figure 2). Although the paneling had long been accepted as an early example of eighteenth-century Palladian design in the Hudson Valley, a prior study conducted by American Wing curators questioned whether it actually did originate from the Hasbrouck house. In any case, a comprehensive technical analysis was deemed necessary in order to address some inconsistencies, such as the large size of the fireplace in relation to the overall dimensions of the paneling, and the fact that the left-hand door opens in the wrong direction.

Examination of the paneling's construction and materials started with the strategic removal of several applied elements. With improved access it was possible to measure and document the complete work, including the pilasters, panels, and moldings. The wall paneling is divided visually and structurally into three parts, with the framework of each section consisting of two stiles that reach from floor to ceiling, connected by one or more rails with the use of pegged mortise-and-tenon joints. In turn, the three frames are joined with short rails concealed by fluted pilasters, each complete with base and capital (Figure 3). Like the construction techniques observed, the hand-forged iron nails—L-head brads to secure the pilasters and headless sprigs for the moldings—and the tool marks encountered on the paneling, are consistent with mid-eighteenth century traditions. Through microscopic analysis of wood samples it was confirmed that all of twelve different original elements examined are sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), a species often used in colonial furniture from the Hudson Valley. Still, other evidence indicated previous structural alterations, such as traces of plaster found on the stile just left of the fireplace, which suggest this element once abutted a wall (Figure 3).

Several features noted in the Hasbrouck house when it was revisited earlier this year provide clear evidence that it indeed is the source of the New York Alcove wall paneling. The two massive anchor beams still in place in the 1752 section of the house are also of gumwood, but more telling is the articulated profile of their edges. While rarely seen on anchor beams in colonial-period Hudson Valley houses, when encountered, profiles as such consist typically of a plain half-round bead over the corner. In this instance the design is much more sophisticated, combining an ogee pattern with a small bead, and this profile exactly matches the central section of the molding used to frame the cupboard doors on the Museum's paneling (Figure 4). Furthermore, the faint outline of the paneling's crown molding can still be recognized on the original ceiling boards in the west room of the Hasbrouck house, as well as nail holes from its original attachment.

Particularly in the basement, many structural elements of the original dwelling remain in place two hundred and fifty years after it was built. The positions of remaining walls and chimney supports, augmented with newly recognized evidence of alterations to the floor plan, can be used to establish that the 1752 structure was divided into two rooms of approximately twenty-four by twenty feet, each with a fireplace in the center of the west wall (Figure 5). The original width of the house was determined from the length of the sill on top of the west foundation wall that survived the 1806 expansion, when the entire south wall was moved out several feet and the layout of the ground floor was modernized to include a central hall. At that time, a length of about eight feet was cut from the south end of the original oak floor beams, which were then extended to the new south foundation wall simply by resting new beams on top of the original ones. This solution accounts for an otherwise awkward step in the floor of the west room, to the left of the fireplace.

Based on evidence from both the Hasbrouck house and from the existing paneling, a highly plausible reconstruction of events can be proposed. In 1752, when the paneling was made, it likely consisted of two closets or cupboards on each side of a central fireplace and spanned the entire twenty-four-foot length of the original west wall. Unlike most examples of similar date, the frames of the paneling were secured by nailing the top ends of the stiles to the front of the westernmost anchor beam rather than the back. This accommodated the elaborate crown molding, and can explain why no evidence of the original attachment of the paneling could be recognized in the current installation. During the 1806 modernization, the complete south side of the original building up to the fireplace, and including the two left-hand sections of paneling, was removed in order to expand the house. Probably at that time, an interior wall following the step in the west room was built, which would have made the difference in floor height much less obvious, and accounts for the traces of plaster found on the stile just to left of the fireplace. The house was modernized once again in the early 1930s, when the surviving paneling, with two cupboards flanking the fireplace on the right, was removed and sold. In keeping with its Palladian design, the paneling was reconfigured to be symmetrical before it was first displayed at the Museum, although this truncated incarnation gives a distorted impression of the original.

With the technical investigation of the New York Alcove wall paneling completed, the next challenge lies in incorporating the newly acquired knowledge into the gallery reinstallation. Given that the paneling is incomplete and no information is available about its configuration to the left of the fireplace, each of the available options for display has limitations. The current symmetrical installation is flawed because of its inaccurate configuration, while "completing" the paneling would result similarly in a subjective interpretation, although it would evoke the original scale of the work. Placing only the extant elements in their correct order, with both doors to the right of the fireplace, would preserve the integrity of the surviving elements, but results in an asymmetrical and unbalanced installation. At this time the curatorial preference is to leave the installation as is, explaining the original configuration using photographic reconstructions and new label texts to communicate the results of this investigation.

Curatorial aspects of this project were researched by Peter Kenny, Curator, Amelia Peck, Associate Curator, and Cynthia Schaffner, Research Assistant, of the Department of American Decorative Arts. With special thanks to Donald Carpentier of Eastfield Village, East Nassau, N.Y., Michael Kelley of J.M. Kelley, Ltd, Niskayuna, N.Y., and William McMillen of the Staten Island Historical Society, Staten Island, N.Y., who kindly lent their extensive expertise in eighteenth-century New York vernacular architecture, and to Barbara Gelman and Ron Lackman for their hospitality, which allowed us the opportunity to closely study their home, Hasbrouck house.

Marijn Manuels is Associate Conservator at the Fairchild Center, which he joined in 1996. He graduated from the Dutch Institute for Cultural Heritage after completing internships at the Rijksmuseum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In addition to his responsibility for the treatment and research of the furniture collection of the Department of American Decorative Arts, he is actively engaged in the reinstallation of the American Wing period rooms. He has also applied his proficiency to wooden archaeological and ethnographic works of art in the Museum's collections, as well as European furniture. Since Spring 2000 he has been co-editor of met objectives.
marijn.manuels@metmuseum.org