Planning for a Sustainable Preservation Environment in the Wilderstein Mansion

FAIN: PF-50259-12

Wilderstein Preservation (Rhinebeck, NY 12572)
Duane A. Watson (Project Director: December 2011 to March 2015)

A planning project to identify ways to create and maintain sustainable environmental conditions in Wilderstein, a historic house museum with collections of fine and decorative arts, manuscript materials, books, photographs, maps, deeds, sheet music, and architectural and landscape drawings that were acquired and preserved by four generations of the Suckley family who lived in the house from 1852 to 1991.

An interdisciplinary team led by Michael Henry, engineer and architect, Penelope Watson of Watson and Henry Associates, conservators Richard Kerschner of the Shelburne Museum and Alan Balicki of The New-York Historical Society, and staff from Wilderstein will analyze interior climate data recorded over a two-year period and will meet as a team to observe the building structure, systems and conditions in which collections are stored and exhibited. The team will investigate the environmental management features of the original architecture, especially those related to ventilation and control of solar gain. Two workshops which function as intensive working sessions will be scheduled: "Environmental Management Objectives" and "Environmental Management Strategies." The results of these workshops will form the basis for the final report and plan for the Wilderstein Mansion Sustainable Preservation Environment Plan.