The Réveillon Wallpaper of the Phelps‑Hatheway House & Garden

Image by Carl Vernlund

The Phelps-Hatheway House in Suffield, Connecticut is home to incredible 18th-century wallpaper that tells the history of Connecticut during the American Revolution and the lifestyle of its inhabitant, Oliver Phelps, through its intricate designs. Explore the wallpaper’s story and learn how you can be a part of the important conservation project currently underway. With the expertise of Studio TKM Associates, this project will inform Connecticut Landmarks of the best ways to care for these rare wallpapers, so they remain a resource for visitors to observe the ways we display wealth and status, examine colonial era trade and commercial exchange, as well as consider land and real estate speculation and Indigenous people’s land rights.

See Conservation Work in Progress November 3

Toast the start of conservation work with the team working to stabilize the Réveillon wallpaper adorning the Phelps-Hatheway House. Enjoy exclusive access to the expertise of conservators from Studio TKM Associates, who will explain and demonstrate their work caring for the papers. Attendees of this intimate gathering are invited to learn about the house and its residents while imagining the turbulence of the 1790s as two nations attempted to assert their independence—and their identities.

Revealing Réveillon

Sunday, November 3, 2024
1:00 pm & 2:30 pm

Oliver Phelps peddles a vision of American expansion

Jean-Baptiste Réveillon’s 18th-Century Wallpaper

recipients of a National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures Historic Preservation Fund grant

Taking Proactive Steps to Holistically Care for the Wallpaper

In 1788, Oliver Phelps purchased a traditional center-chimney house in Suffield, CT from Shem Burbank, who built the center-chimney structure in 1761 where he and his wife Anna Fitch Burbank raised nine children. A budding land speculator in the tumultuous years after the American Revolution, Phelps commissioned the addition of a large wing that may have served to entertain potential clients. The wing features five splendid Parisian Louis XVI wallpapers printed between 1791-95 by Jacquemart et Bernard with wood blocks made by Jean-Baptiste Réveillon. The wallpaper, found in the north wing, covers two wide halls, a sitting room, dining room, and two second floor bedrooms.

From the stylish new rooms, Phelps peddled a vision of American expansion to New Englanders looking for a new life in the west. Phelps’ attempts to sell significant amounts of Seneca Nation land as part of Connecticut’s Western Reserve proved unsuccessful. Within a decade, Oliver Phelps’ fortunes had collapsed, but the wallpaper endured. Today, it is one of the oldest, largest extant wallpaper collections in the United States contained within one of the most complete collections of late 18th-century woodworking and interior decoration.

Four rooms at the home in Suffield currently contain the original wallpaper. When highway construction threatened the house, one room was dismantled and reconstructed at the Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum, where it is still on view today as the Federal Parlor.

Connecticut Landmarks is honored to have received a grant from the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures Historic Preservation Fund which will be used to stabilize and conserve the 18th-century Parisian wallpaper collection at the house.

While the wallpaper at the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden is in spectacular condition given its age, regular wear, light, and weather changes have impacted it over more than 200 years. We are glad to be able to take proactive steps to holistically care for the paper before it deteriorates. Following a competitive proposal process, this project will allow us to work with experts from Studio TKM Associates to assess and document the condition of the paper, analyze key color and design elements for conservation, and stabilize the paper in place so that it will continue to be a resource for scholars and a treasure for visitors over the next two centuries and beyond. The full scope of expected work can be found in the RFP for conservation services, and we will continue to update as work progresses, as education is a key component of this project.

This grant was awarded by The National Park Service (NPS), in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Connecticut Landmarks was one of 58 projects in 26 states, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia that was awarded Historic Preservation Fund support totaling $25.7 million from the National Park Service. Established in 1977 and authorized at $150 million per year through 2023, the Historic Preservation Fund has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments and non-profit organizations. Administered by the NPS, Congress appropriates from the HPF to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural resources and history.

“[The wallpaper is] exquisite in design, rich in history, and a wonder of permanence! The Save America’s Treasures grant will allow Connecticut Landmarks the rare opportunity to preserve a piece of the past to inform and delight visitors to this beloved property for many years to come.”

Lynn Mervosh, Site Administrator at the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden

 

Stay Connected

 

Engage with the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden

Stay tuned to our website, social media pages, and print media for progress on the wallpaper conservation project. Book a tour of the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden to see the beautiful wallpaper and learn more about the lives and experiences of Shem Burbank and Oliver Phelps.

Next Ticketed Event

Holiday Lantern Tours

December 14 @ 4:00 pm5:00 pm

Be Part of an Historic Project

You can help us match the grant funding that allowed us to start this work and ensure the safety of this precious wallpaper for centuries to come.