The long anticipated opening of Hamilton Grange National Memorial is upon
us. This Saturday, September 17 at noon, which is Constitution Day, the
National Park Service will open the Grange to the public. With you we will
celebrate the opening of Hamilton’s ‘sweet project’ this weekend with
music, living history demonstrations, rangers talks and lectures. You can
find the full schedule of events on the attached flyer.

We look forward to welcoming you to the ‘new’ Grange! Below is the schedule for this weekend. Come out and celebrate this historic event!

Saturday, September 16th

Main Stage
12:00 PM: Caribbean Music
1:00 PM: The 1st Rhode Island
2:00 PM: Music of the American Colonies
3:00 PM: Alexander Hamilton
4:00 PM: Rose and Ceser: The African-American experience

Throughout the Day

Hamilton Garden at Convent Ave. Living History
1st Rhode Island Cooper
5th Field Artillery Regiment
Chocolate Maker
Colonial Music
Rose and Ceser: The African-American experience
Weaver
Blacksmith

Colonial Games and Military “Sounds Along The Manor” is an interactive sound installation by art-ist Abigail Simon. Experience sounds from the past with “QR” codes posted at five different locations on the Grange grounds and at the former site on Convent Ave.

• • • • • • • •

From Darren Boch from National Park Service

The beauty of Alexander Hamilton’s “sweet project,” the Grange, is now
clearly apparent. The balustrades on the roof and porch roofs are finished
and in place. The chimneys have all been restored and the functional
shutters have been hung. The special plaster finish on the ground level is
done and the house has a fresh coat of paint in preparation for its grand
re-opening on Sept. 17, 2011. On that day, tours inside the home will be
open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis around 12:00 noon.
(Full opening weekend program announcement to follow in the next update.)

Inside, the mirrored doors in the dining room have been re-installed
following restoration work that replaced the missing glass. Much of the
interior painting is finished and replicas of historic furnishings will
soon be placed in the appropriate rooms. The restored historic staircase
has been fully installed and stained.

Additionally, the installation of the exhibits is nearly complete. The
exhibits follow Alexander Hamilton’s life from his boyhood in the
Caribbean, through his move to New York and subsequent enlistment in the
Continental Army during the American Revolution, to his meteoric rise to
national prominence and his untimely death in the duel with Aaron Burr. The
work in the visitor welcome station is also nearly finished and will boast
an electronic information display as well as a small bookstore.

The theater, which will show a film about Hamilton’s life, is nearing
completion. Sliding doors separate the theater from the main exhibition
space. The theater doubles as an interpretive space, illustrating how the
original ground floor (lost during the first move in 1889) was used as
domestic space, and housed the Grange’s kitchen. The sketch on the back
wall of the theater shows the outline of the type of kitchen fireplace that
would have been used for cooking most of the meals served at the Grange
during the Hamilton family’s time there.

Below is an update of the Hamilton Grange by Darren Boch from the National Park Service.

The fine work of restoring the Grange to its former glory continues apace,
and we’re well on our way to a grand opening on September 17. See the
pictures below for some of the recent work and meet just a few of the
people who are lovingly and painstakingly working to ensure that the Grange
meets the high standards of its original owner, Alexander Hamilton.

The first level of shutters can be seen on the eastern piazza (side porch)
of the Grange. The rest of the functional shutters are scheduled to be
installed in the coming weeks.

The historic front door of the Grange, complete with transom and sidelights
was lovingly restored by the National Park Service’s Northeast Regional
Architectural Preservation Engineering and Maintenance office and has been
re-installed at the Grange.

Sean O’Keefe, preservation craftsman with the National Park Service, scores
a fresh layer of stucco on the ground floor of the Grange to create the
illusion of stone blocks. This is the same technique that was used when the
Grange was first constructed.

Greg Law, senior preservation specialist with the National Park Service,
works on the re-constructed banister of the staircase at the Grange. While
much of the staircase is original to the house, the stairs were
reconfigured to a new shape following the Grange’s first move in 1889 and
pieces of it were altered to accommodate the new configuration and other
pieces were lost. In restoring the staircase to its original shape, the
restoration team was able to incorporate some of the original, but altered
pieces back into the finished stairs. Two of those pieces are the
balustrades marked by blue painter’s tape.

A member of the team from the National Park Service’s Northeast Regional
Architectural Preservation Engineering and Maintenance office applies steam
to a piece of trim destined for a curving portion the Grange’s main
staircase. Steaming the piece in combination with other techniques allows
it to bend to fit the place where it will go but still maintain its
structure and strength.

After getting itself “ironed out,” a piece of trim (top) is test fitted
into the well of the staircase at the Grange.

Naomi Kroll Hassebroek, architectural conservator with the National Park
Service, gently sprays primer onto the cornice in the dining room of the
Grange. Kroll Hassebroek’s work began with her and a team of interns
removing 200 years worth of paint from the cornices using modern stripping
agents, steam and dental tools to reveal the intricate details of the
plaster moldings. Once the final coat of paint goes on, the white cornice
moldings will stand out against the dining room’s yellow walls as they did
when Alexander Hamilton lived at the Grange.The fine work of restoring the Grange to its former glory continues apace, and we’re well on our way to a grand opening on September 17. See the
pictures above for some of the recent work and meet just a few of the
people who are lovingly and painstakingly working to ensure that the Grange
meets the high standards of its original owner, Alexander Hamilton.

The National Park Service (NPS) is planning to reopen Hamilton Grange National Memorial to the public beginning this September 17. The
Grange has been closed to the public for nearly five years, going through a
move and an “extreme makeover” designed to make Alexander Hamilton’s ‘Sweet Project’ look and feel as welcoming to us as it did to Hamilton and his family when they moved in in 1802. As we get closer to the opening date, details for the opening celebration will be released.

This report is from Darren Boch from the National Parks Service:

Interior restoration work is continuing at Hamilton Grange National Memorial. Teams have recently begun work on the historic fireplaces, replacing damaged bricks and preparing the fireplaces to receive their facings. Another team is working on the door frames for the dining room. A mock-up of one of the massive doors will be used during this phase of the restoration, while the historic doors remain in Lowell, MA to be fitted with mirrors and replicated hardware for reinstallation into the dining room. The home’s mirrored dining room walls, a signature feature of Hamilton’s “Sweet Project,” reflected the view from the room’s triple hung windows and were designed to make guests feel as if they eating in an outdoor gazebo. We are very excited about the progress and pleased with the great care our staff and contractors are taking to make the ‘Grange’ look as much as it did when Alexander Hamilton stepped through its doors for the first time in 1802. As of now we do not have a date set for the reopening of the home, but we are hopeful for the middle of this summer.

National Park Service conservators are working to restore the home’s historic plaster using a technique that injects a special adhesive behind the plaster that creates a bond between the plaster and the lath supporting it.

The visitor center, located on the ground floor of the Grange, is beginning to take on its final appearance. The drywall is up, taped and finished. Outlets for electricity and the state-of-the-art multimedia exhibits have been roughed in.

The visitor center will have a hardwood floor made from reclaimed lumber. The use of historic boards is not only environmentally friendly; it also ties the new ground level portion of the Grange to the historic levels.

Reclaimed lumber is also being used where applicable to replace damaged or missing sections of wooden trim throughout the home. The reclaimed wood is of a similar type to the home’s historic fabric and it has already fully “aged”, making it ideal for this type of application.

While photographing it, a couple came up and asked how it was doing.  Low and behold, the artists themselves came to check on it! The artists are Rebecca Kassay and Andrew Thomas who live just north of the park. He is an architect and she has been involved in sculptor arts. To celebrate their 1st year together yesterday, they created this lovely piece of art. (They are pictured below with their work).

It can still be seen just south of the lower part of the west 141st street staircase. Enjoy it today in the park before it melts!

Harlem artists Rebecca Kassay and Andrew Thomas with their work.

Below is an update from Darren Boch of the National Parks Service on the Hamilton Grange National Monument.

Work continues apace in restoring Hamilton Grange National Memorial. A gate has been installed to protect the new handicap accessible lift, the Horticultural Society is continuing to care for the thirteen sweet gum trees planted on the site, and the exterior has been scraped and readied for painting. Inside the home, plaster repair is being done to the fireplace in the parlor, molding is being stripped and the exhibit team is diligently working on how best to tell the story of this Founding Father and the house he called his “sweet project.”

A National Park Service conservator steams the water-soluble historic paint off the cornice moldings in the parlor of Hamilton Grange after having used a chemical stripper (orange color) to remove the modern latex as well as the lead-based paint. The team uses bamboo picks and dental instruments for the fine detail work. The bone colored areas are where 200 years of paint has been removed to reveal the intricate detail of the egg and dart design on the molding. Once the cleaning has been done the cornice will be given a fresh coat of paint to return it to its appearance when Hamilton lived there.

A third-year graduate student in the Conservation program of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University uses a dental pick to carefully coax decades of paint from the deep crevices of the egg and dart design on the cornice molding in the parlor of Hamilton Grange. The work is painstaking, requiring more than a month for the four-person team to clean the moldings in just the parlor.

The Hamilton Grange is expected to open Spring 2011. Check back at this website for more info.

The American Scottish Foundation is holding a fundraising lecture and reception at Federal Hall on June 16th. The proceeds from the event will help establish a beautiful authentic Scottish garden near Alexander Hamilton’s Historic home in St. Nicholas Park. Follow the link below to RSVP for this important event.

If you have any questions you can contact the American Scottish Foundation by email them asfevents@wwbcny.com

Update: Due to delays the Hamilton Grange will now open to the public in Spring 2011.

Update provided from Darren Boch of the National Parks Service:

Anyone walking near Hamilton Grange National Memorial lately has noticed that the exterior of the home has really begun to look just as Hamilton
constructed his “sweet project” in 1802.   The faux finish on the ground level has been done, turning stucco into “stonework,” and the decorative
railings have been installed and painted. And this being spring, the landscaping is beginning to bloom and the grass seed has taken root.

Phase One of the restoration project, which covered most of the exterior work and landscaping, is nearing completion. The NPS restoration team
recently inspected the HVAC, fire suppression, alarm, electric, water and sewer systems and we are now moving toward Phase Two, which will cover the
interior restoration work, including the hanging of the sidelights and the staircase. If all goes according to plan, the interior “finishing” phase of
the project should be completed in early 2011.

The elevator to take handicapped visitors from the ground level to the first floor has been installed and tested.

An electrician works on a floor outlet which is expected to power an exhibit in the ground floor visitor center.