The Hermitage Ultraviolet Light Filtering Interior Storm Window Replacement

FAIN: PG-52203-14

Hermitage Association (Hermitage, TN 37076-1331)
Brian Anthony Guzzi (Project Director: May 2013 to September 2015)

Consultation with a historic preservation architect, an engineer, and a conservator to identify improved approaches to reducing light levels and preventing moisture infiltration for the protection of collections in the Hermitage, the 1836 home of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. The Hermitage, designated a National Historic Landmark, contains personal possessions of the Jackson family, including furniture, decorative arts, prints and paintings, maps, documents, and books, as well as French wallpapers that are original to the home. Through earlier NEH support, the museum developed an interpretive plan for the home that focuses on such themes as the growing democracy, slavery and the cotton economy, and western expansion.

This is a project to design replacement UV-filtering interior storm windows for the Hermitage mansion. The Hermitage mansion and the collections exhibited there comprise a unique collection that provides a glimpse into the lifestyle of a wealthy antebellum planter and slaveholder, national hero, and the most influential politician between Washington and Lincoln, Andrew Jackson. Nearly all of the furnishings, including six rooms of wallpaper, are original to the Jackson family. The original mansion windows and light sensitive collections are presently suffering from degraded and poorly designed ultraviolet filtering interior storm windows. This project will enable The Hermitage to bring together a team of consultants and staff to correct the window design flaws to produce a construction-ready design for replacement storm windows. These windows, once built and installed (a separate project), will provide ultraviolet light protection for the collection.