Paint Research in Building Conservation

A collection of papers highlighting architectural paint research as a vital tool in understanding and conserving historic interiors with a focus on new methodologies, case studies, and practical applications. It is an essential resource for architects, conservators, heritage professionals, and researchers involved in the care and interpretation of historic buildings.

Over the past twenty years, architectural paint research has developed rapidly as a discipline that provides insights into the use of historic paint and the history and development of historic interiors, and is now recognised as an important tool in the conservation of historic buildings. This volume of papers presented at the conference Architectural Paint Research in Building Conservation held at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, provides a unique overview and discussion of the latest developments within the field. The book will be appreciated by architects and those responsible for the management of historic interiors as well as specialist researchers, conservators, decorators and interior designers. Published in association with the National Museum of Denmark and with the support of English Heritage.

Foreword by Line Bregnhøi

Acknowledgements

List of contributors

Methods of architectural paint research

The potential of architectural paint research in building analysis and conservation

Helen Hughes

Data on strata: NIKU's practice for the documentation of architectural paint research

Kristin Solberg

Material analysis in relation to architectural paint research

Mads Chr. Christensen

The Corbit-Sharp House at Odessa, Delaware: finishes analysis and interpretation of four interior rooms

Catherine R. Matsen

Colour investigation of an historic interior with the extensive use of cross-section samples

Bo Kjeld Kierkegaard

Paint research on 20th-century architecture: the case of the Bauhaus buildings in Dessau

Thomas Danzl

Do you see what I see? Historic paint colour investigations

Mary A. Jablonski

The history of architectural paint research in Latvia: practice and problems

Vija Strupule

Investigating wallpapers: the potential of integrated research within historic interiors

Allyson McDermott

Creating forums for debate: an overview of historic interiors research and conservation in the Netherlands

Mariël Polman

How paint archaeology and analysis helped to decipher the Aiken-Rhett house and its outbuildings

Susan L. Buck

Assessment and utilisation of research

Changed forever? Part 1: architectural paint investigation at the Canadian Conservation Institute

James Bourdeau

Changed forever? Part 2: documentation of architectural paint finishes at the Canadian Conservation Institute

Nancy E. Binnie

Architectural paint research: an important tool for understanding historic buildings and their interiors

Eloy F. Koldeweij

Deciphering an architectural interior: an approach to paint archaeology of the Benjamin Kimball house in Concord, New Hampshire

Melissa McGrew

Architectural paint research in the building context: the research has finished - what's next?

Ruth Jongsma

Looking for vanished decorations in Victor Horta's Hôtel Frison: an assessment of puzzling archaeological findings

Wivine Wailliez

Practical considerations and works programme

The 'ideal' client doesn't exist but a 'good' client can! A paint researcher's perspective

Neilian Crick and Michael Smith

'Would you please do a scrape of my living-room wall and find the original colour?' Architectural paint research seen in a wider context

Jon Brænne

Which goes with which? The role of paint analysis and investigation in the restoration and reconstruction of earlier significant decorative schemes

Robyn Riddett

Investigation and presentation of historic architectural paint in buildings of the town of Torgau in Saxony, Germany

Mechthild Noll-Minor

The importance of architectural paintings conservation for the preservation of cultural properties in Taiwan

Yi-fang Tang and Pai-hwai Wu

Communication with public

Towards a methodology of architectural paint research: experiences in Austria and central Europe

Manfred Koller

Interpretation and accessibility to the public: a challenge for architectural paint research

Richard Kjellström

Humble dwellings were decorated indeed: painting techniques and wall coverings of middle and working class interiors

Elsbeth Geldhof

Peeling the onion: paint analysis, presentation and the public

Christine Leback Sitwell

Questions and answers sessions

Index

• Edited by Line Bregnhøi
• Edited by Helen Hughes
• Edited by Jenni Lindbom
• Edited by Tone Marie Olstad
• Edited by Edwin Verweij

"For the average interested reader, general sources of information on architectural paint research are frustratingly few. Therefore the publication of a superbly presented, beautifully illustrated and authoritative new text - Paint Research in Building Conservation - should be a welcome addition...I hope it will become an essential guide to paint research for a broad range of building conservation professionals: architects, curators, historic building managers, surveyors, historians, researchers, conservators and decorators." ICON News 8 (January 2007) 40
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For the average interested reader, general sources of information on architectural paint research are frustratingly few. Therefore the publication of a superbly presented, beautifully illustrated and authoritative new text - Paint Research in Building Conservation - should be a welcome addition...I hope it will become an essential guide to paint research for a broad range of building conservation professionals: architects, curators, historic building managers, surveyors, historians, researchers, conservators and decorators.

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