Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Publications (WI)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)

February 24, 2001

AIMING FOR A Perfect Ten

Chimneys estate returns to splendor

Author: RICK BARRETT; Journal Sentinel staff

Edition: Final

Section: ANews

Page: 01

Dateline: Genesee Depot

Estimated printed pages: 4

Article Text:

After decades of neglect and years of talking about returning the virtual time capsule estate of the 1930s that

is Ten Chimneys to its former splendor, restoration finally is in full swing.

The project at the former home of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, once the reigning couple of American

theater, involves some of the world's most famous restoration specialists who are painstakingly peeling back

layers of time.

The work will ensure that the estate will be opened to the public in 2003 for tours and theater arts workshops,

said Sean Malone, Ten Chimneys Foundation vice president.

The project will differ from most restoration projects that try to re-create the past, said William Seale, a

historic preservationist from Virginia in charge of the Ten Chimneys project.

"It's the most unusual historic house I have ever dealt with because it's all there," Seale said of the home and

cottages loaded with memorabilia from a period rang! ing from the Roaring '20s to the Psychedelic '60s.

"It is almost as if time stopped, and the Lunts went out for coffee for a few hours and will be right back," Seale

said.

The work is expected to cost several million dollars most of it from private donors, though the foundation has

received a $250,000 federal grant.

Much work ahead

There are hundreds of hours of work ahead, Malone said.

"The estate had reached the point where it was now or never," he said. "Decades of dust and humidity had

taken their toll on things. The house was not abused, but it was not cared for the way it should have been for

something this rich and detailed and fragile."

Ten Chimneys was named for the number of chimneys in its wood-heated main home and cottages. Theater

luminaries such as Laurence Olivier, Helen Hayes, Katharine Hepburn and Noel Coward loved spending

summers there with the Lunts.

Much of the aura comes from hand-painted murals that adorn the ! walls and ceilings of the main home and

cottages.

The mu! rals wer e painted by Claggett Wilson, a prominent Broadway theater set designer of the 1920s who

came to the retreat for a month to paint one mural and ended up staying nearly two years to cover the place

with a wild assortment of theatrical scenes.

The murals include fanciful interpretations of Old Testament figures such as David and Goliath and Samson

and Delilah. Lunt painted some of the murals himself, and two angels in one scene are marked "A.L." and

"L.F."

There are cherubs, painted on a ceiling, with Alfred Lunt's face.

You can feel the playful presence of Lunt and Fontanne everywhere in the estate, said Andrezej Pinkowski, a

Virginia restoration artist who is peeling back layers of paint to reveal the original artwork underneath.

Lunt loved to buy

Lunt, who was born in Milwaukee and attended Waukesha's Carroll College, traveled the world from the

1920s through the 1950s and loved to buy things for Ten Chimneys, Malone said.

The walls and m! antels of the main home, guest cottage and artists' studio are lined with priceless plates

Delft, Faience, Staffordshire along with delicate crystal, fine china, French portraits stitched in silk,

rosemaling and folk art.

The furnishings are unchanged from 60 years ago, as old photographs document, and the house is chock-full

of theater memorabilia that flowed easily from the legendary guests the Lunts regularly entertained at the

estate.

Open a drawer and there is a personal letter from Laurence Olivier to Fontanne with a short postscript from

Olivier's wife, Vivien Leigh.

Crystal perfume bottles still are on Fontanne's dressing table, just as she always left them, as are her

exquisite needlepoint designs in the master bedroom.

The Lunts were very classy people who spared no expense when it came to furnishing their home, Malone

said. But some of the home's furnishings deteriorated badly after Lunt died in 1977 and Fontanne died six

years later.

Dust an enemy

Dust is the No. 1 enemy of a house, and ! in the c ase of Ten Chimneys, it deteriorated curtains and artwork

and fixtures, Seale said.

"The house had not been dusted for about 35 years, and the ravages of dust had taken away the sparkle it

had," he said. "What we are trying to do is erase those 35 years through conservation and care."

Knowing that Alfred Lunt was a stickler for maintenance, and that it would have driven him crazy to see his

home deteriorate, difficult decisions were made about what to restore and what to replace at the estate,

Seale said.

"When I first looked at the one of the drapery sets, I said `These are rotten and have to be taken down.' But

then it occurred to me that they had not been taken down since Alfred and Lynn put them up in the 1930s. So

we are putting the same material back, with the same color and the same linen."

In many ways, the restoration is similar to cleaning and restoring a painting, said Seale, who has done similar

work at the White House and numerous governo! rs' mansions.

"Nothing is done that will damage the original materials," he said.

Working with Seale, Pinkowski and his team of restorationists are using specialized tools such as syringes to

inject acrylic emulsion into hairline plaster cracks. They are also spending hundreds of hours slowly removing

dirt and layers of paint that cover some of the original ceiling and wall murals.

Some of the worst damage was on the dining room ceiling, where years of smoke from dining room table

candles had discolored the murals.

"Candlelight is really magical, and it was the preferred lighting of the time," Pinkowski said. "But the damage

from it was severe."

"The preservationists are taking incredible care to keep the home's `lived-in' look," Malone said. "Chair

stuffing, for example, is being replaced to the level where the chairs look as if someone had been using them

for a few years minus the rips and tears."

Saving the woodwork in the home's libra! ry has been another major challenge, Seale added. The wood was!

from hi lltop oak trees that had been shaped by decades of wind and weather. But it had darkened and dried

badly from years of neglect, and wood specialists have put hundreds of hours into the woodwork to restore

its original luster.

Uncontrolled humidity was a killer. But there is now a modern heating and air-conditioning system that keeps

the humidity at about a constant 45% all year, Malone said.

"Now we are nearing the point where we can preserve the home just the way it is for the next 100 years," he

said.

Copyright 2001 Journal Sentinel Inc.

Record Number: 2001022410132188