Elevating Stewardship: Restoring and Reviving Iconic House Museums

with Jennifer Carlquist, Robert Leath, and Patricia Lowe Smith, and moderated by Benjamin Prosky

On Wednesday, September 24th, the ICAA and the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation welcomed Jennifer Carlquist, Robert Leath, and Patricia Lowe Smith for Elevating Stewardship: Restoring and Reviving Iconic House Museums in a discussion moderated by Benjamin Prosky, President of the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation.

The restoration of a historic house is seemingly never complete. The stewards of these properties may have well researched maintenance plans, but they also must always expect the unexpected. In the case of house museums, the ongoing restoration process should be used as an opportunity to teach – inviting curators, craftspeople, design professionals, students of preservation and the general public to better understand the skill and care that goes into reviving a historic property.

This panel convened a group of experienced museum professionals who oversee critical and complicated restorations at several extraordinary properties. From the re-installation of original wood paneling, returned to the Cupola House in Edenton, North Carolina after a century in the Brooklyn Museum collection; to the careful research and documentation needed to prepare for the restoration of an exquisite ceiling at Drayton Hall located outside of Charleston, South Carolina; to the miraculous recovery of Boscobel in Cold Spring, New York, after a devastating ceiling collapse has led to an ambitious restoration and given an opportunity to reinterpret the interiors.

This is the third event in The Richard H. Jenrette Preservation Series established in partnership with the ICAA and made possible through a grant from the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation.

Jennifer Carlquist is a 30-year museum professional preserving and reinterpreting American interiors, their contents, and contexts, as powerful catalysts for community engagement. Ms. Carlquist lectures widely on design history and museum management including for the SUNY system, New York School of Interior Design, and the Victorian Society in America.

In her decade as Boscobel's ED and Curator, she has launched a new exhibition program, digital tour options, an annual Chamber Music Festival, a Community Tree Initiative, and major site improvements including a 5,000-sq ft program Pavilion, ADA upgrades, and a native Meadow. She leads the organization-wide effort to restore and reinvigorate Boscobel’s Historic House Museum after a catastrophic ceiling collapse in 2024. She is a graduate of the Smithsonian/Cooper-Hewitt M.A. Program in the History of Design and Curatorial Studies, the University of Minnesota, and the prestigious Attingham Summer School.

Robert Leath is Executive Director of the Edenton Historical Commission and the Elizabeth Vann Moore Foundation, leading preservation efforts in North Carolina’s first colonial capital and one of its most scenic coastal towns.

Currently, he is spearheading three projects: the restoration of Edenton’s Kadesh AME Zion Church; coordinating reinstallation of the original 18^th-century woodwork at the Cupola House; and guiding the transformation of Hayes, one of the State’s most remarkable historic landmarks, into a dynamic, publicly accessible historic site.

Trish Lowe Smith is the Director of Preservation & Archives at Drayton Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, where she leads efforts in architectural research and conservation, collections care, exhibit design and fabrication, and disaster preparedness and recovery. Beyond her work at Drayton Hall, she teaches architectural conservation in Clemson University’s Historic Preservation Program, co-chairs the Southeast Chapter of the Association for Preservation Technology, helps lead APT’s Disaster Response Initiative, and is preparing a new workshop on caring for historic house museums in partnership with the Foundation for the Advancement in Conservation.

Lead Annual Public Programs Sponsor: RINCK
Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Dell Mitchell Architects
Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Hyde Park Mouldings