Menokin's Interior Woodwork
Overview

The more than 1,000 pieces of Menokin's interior woodwork, now in storage at the Menokin Foundation's King Conservation and Visitors Center, have had an eventful and remarkable life. From about 1940 to the mid-1960s, when Menokin started to collapse, this home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence lay vacant. The owners of Menokin, the Omohundro family, realized the value of the interior woodwork and removed it from the house in 1965 to protect it from vandals and the elements.

The Omohundro family stored the woodwork in a vacant house at Lyles Corner, located five miles from Menokin, where it remained for 20 years. In 1985, the family gave the woodwork to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA), which transported the pieces to a secure barn at Bacon's Castle in Surry County , approximately 100 miles from Menokin. In 1998, most of the woodwork from Menokin's largest room--the dining room--was loaned to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, where it was reassembled as part of the “Story of Virginia" exhibit. Eventually the dining room woodwork will rejoin the pieces at the Menokin Foundation's King Conservation and Visitors Center .

In 2002, a paint analysis of selected areas of the first and second floor woodwork was conducted by Susan L. Buck. Click here to read an excerpt from Buck's report that presents her findings.

In 2004, upon completion of the King Conservation and Visitors Center, the APVA returned the woodwork to Menokin. The Foundation's intent is to use Menokin—the house, site, and architectural fragments—as a lively teaching resource. The pieces visitors see today are themselves unrestored, with various layers of paint and scars that illustrate their long life and adventurous career.

To see measured drawings and photographs of the woodwork from 1940, visit the Historic American Buildings Survey at the Library of Congress.

Completed Conservation Projects

In 2005, the Menokin Foundation undertook the conservation and reassemblage of “the best chimney piece.” The richest woodwork in the house was applied to the chimney masonry in the dining room and chamber—the two first-floor river-side rooms. The larger dining room, which can be viewed at the Virginia Historical Society, had a somewhat eccentric mantel and overmantel that was enriched early in the 19 th century.

The mantel and overmantel, or “best chimneypiece,” occupied the adjoining room, called a chamber in the 18 th -century design drawing. Perhaps, then, this could have been Francis Lightfoot and Rebecca Tayloe Lee's bedchamber rather than a parlor. It is a more familiar Georgian essay in woodwork, with a curved frieze meticulously carved with fish scales below a cornice supporting the shelf, and a large panel of carefully-fitted boards overhead. We assume the carving and joinery were done in Richmond County , and the design in general resembles contemporary original woodwork across the Rappahannock at Blandfield (known from fragments) and Elmwood.

The next conservation project undertaken was the reassemblage of the front entryway in 2006. This doorway was located on the north, or land side, of Menokin, and functioned as its primary and finest entrance. An analysis of the door framing and damage caused by the 1968 removal process gives us a better idea of the doorway's construction phasing. The door jamb and arch were most probably placed as one unit during the masonry work, locking the element into place. The construction is rigid and could not be done in phases as the wall was built; instead the entire frame was placed at the same time. To the exterior the pilasters trapped the frame, and a channel in the masonry captured the interior portion. One of the most arresting details of Menokin's facade was the keystone centered above the doorway. The keystone, like the reassembled woodwork of the dining room, is currently on display at the Virginia Historical Society.

In January, 2007, consulting architect and conservator Charles A. Phillips, AIA, identified and sorted the many components of woodwork, according to their original location in the house. Among these assemblages is the paneling, cabinets, shutters and window seats of the northwest (or front, right) room of Menokin, which is identified as a chamber in the 1769 presentation drawings. In 1940, Historic American Building Survey identified this room as a kitchen. Unlike the other three rooms on the primary story, the northwest chamber was never documented by photographs or measured drawings, and it was assumed that the room had modest detailing. Surprisingly, the identified woodwork shows highly developed joinery with raised paneling and a floor-to-ceiling cabinet that was adjacent to the fireplace.

Sources:

Susan L. Buck, “Cross-Section Microscopy Report of Paint Samples, Menokin, Richmond County , Virginia ,” December 20, 2002. On file at the Menokin Foundation.

Edward A. Chappell, “Pieces of Menokin,” 2004. On file at the Menokin Foundation.

Tom Snyder, Williamsburg Art Conservation, Inc., “Treatment Report: Best Chimneypiece,” 2005. On file at the Menokin Foundation.

Tom Snyder, Williamsburg Art Conservation, Inc., “Treatment Report: Front Door Frame” 2006. On file at the Menokin Foundation.

Matt Webster, “Menokin: Interior Woodwork Transfer and Chimneypiece Reconstruction,” June, 2005. On file at the Menokin Foundation.

Matt Webster, “Menokin: Doorway 101 Report,” 2006. On file at the Menokin Foundation.

Dining Room, 1940, Historic American Buildings Survey. Currently on display at the Virginia Historical Society,

Best Chimneypiece from first-floor, southwest chamber, reassembled at King Conservation & Visitors Center, 2005.

Detail of fish-scale carving from best chimneypiece

Reassembled front doorway to Menokin, King Conservation & Visitors Center, 2006.

Northwest chamber woodwork. Assembled are wall paneling and window frames. The cabinet is shown in the center of the floor with window shutters on either side.