By Peggy Carroll
Anybody who owns a house knows there is always something to do. Paint jobs. Mending jobs. Plumbing jobs. Redecorating jobs.
Just imagine what must be done when the house is more than 200 years old. And it needs not only to be maintained, but preserved as it was two centuries ago.
And then think of what it would need if there has been no significant structural maintenance for the last 65 years.
That’s what the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown must do.
And to do it, the museum has a multi-phase plan to both preserve and rehabilitate the building, the home of George Macculloch, the “Father of the Morris Canal,” and his wife Louisa, and to protect its collections.
Dr. Patricia Pongracz, the museum’s executive director, said the Federal brick mansion was built in three stages, in 1810, 1812 and 1819, and last underwent major restoration in 1951 under direction of W. Parsons Todd, the museum’s founder.
Since 2014, the Museum has worked with Annabelle Radcliffe-Trennar of Historic Building Architects LLC to prepare a multi-year preservation plan and rehabilitation update. The plan addresses the rehabilitation of the house’s exterior, including the brickwork, roof, windows and doors and chimneys.
And now, thanks to two grants, it has the resources to replace some decor and begin restoration.
A re-grant of $4,197 from the Morris County Heritage Commission is being used to install 12 period-style wooden Venetian blinds in all the rooms and galleries open to the public: George Macculloch’s office and the dining room on the first floor and in the Miller bedroom, the children’s bedroom, gallery and library on the second floor.
Ryan Hyman, F.M. Kirby Curator of Collections, said that in addition to being period-appropriate,
the blinds enhance the rooms first decorated by Todd, who endowed the house as a resource for Morristown and Morris County residents.
The blinds bring the museum in full compliance with museum standards for appropriate light levels, a project the Hall began in 2011, Hyman said. The blinds are easy to adjust and are opened by staff during public hours and closed at all other times to block sun damage to the collections on display.
A $15,000 grant from the 1772 Foundation kick-starts the multi-year preservation work. It partially funds the rehabilitation of the house’s four chimneys: Raking out, re-pointing and repair.
The chimneys have not been used since the mid 20th century, Pongracz said, but they are significant architectural features. Making them structurally sound will preserve what she called the “iconic outline of the house.”
The re-grant is administered by the Morris County Heritage Commission for the county Board of Chosen Freeholders and was funded by the New Jersey Historical Commission. The chimney grant was awarded by the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Historic Trust and Trustees of the 1772 Foundation Inc.
Macculloch Hall has been a not-for profit museum since 1950. It comprises nine period rooms, two exhibition galleries, a dedicated classroom and an extensive formal garden that is open to the public free of charge.
