Three Centuries of American Interiors open
at Shelburne Museum June 2 - October 14.
By Sam Ankerson

SHELBURNE, VT - Shelburne Museum, a museum of art, Americana, and historic architecture located in northwest Vermont, presents a new exhibition of six separate houses illustrating the evolution of American interior aesthetics from the settlement era to the 21st-century.

Three Centuries of American Interiors is the product of a 2 year effort to create three new historic houses, while simultaneously updating and re-interpreting three existing historic houses at the museum. The result is a series of six structures functioning as one exhibition, allowing the visitor to move chronologically from the days of log house living, through the 19th and 20th centuries, and ahead into the future with a modern pre-fabricated metal and glass structure.

Three of the houses focus on how Vermont residents lived and decorated their homes, while three explore different styles of interior design and illuminate how vernacular forms of art such as folk art sculpture and furniture are used to create decorative compositions.

Settlers' House is a spare, two-room log home. Opened in 2000, Settlers' House reproduces the living and working environment of a frontier family settling in northwest Vermont in 1795. Throughout July 2001, a 20' x 30' barn will be constructed using traditional methods and serving as a working demonstration, culminating in a public barn raising event August 11. The house and barn together will be an interactive education and exhibition space, offering a window in to early Vermont life.

Dutton House is one of three re-interpreted 19th-century houses. Dutton House re-opens after 18 months of upgrades and curatorial re-evaluation to portray domestic and commercial life in Cavendish, VT, in the 1820s. The Dutton family settled in Cavendish in 1781, and engaged in several entrepreneurial pursuits, including surveying, practicing law, inn and tavern keeping, distilling, and farming. Recently discovered 1824 inventories of the house and its businesses led to a re-installation of the house set in the 1820s. Visitors may now benefit from a house that is part exhibition space, part interactive programming space - creating new opportunities for focusing on Vermont's development in the early 1800s. A highlight of the re-opened Dutton House is the full reproduction of the original tavern area and bar.

Stencil House, the second of three re-interpreted 19th-century houses, emphasizes two features: the interior design of a farm family's home in the mid-19th century as envisioned by Shelburne Museum founder Electra Havemeyer Webb; and the remarkable stenciled walls for which the house is named. The ornate stencils have been cleaned, treated, and in one room re-produced to return the rooms to their original brilliance. Some of the museum's best examples of painted furniture decorate the house - restoring Mrs. Webb's original vision of complementing the unique stenciled walls with decorative vernacular forms. Stencil House embodies both a domestic scenario of the mid-19th century, and the aesthetic eye of a great American collector and decorator in the mid-20th century.

Prentis House, the third re-interpreted 19th-century house, is a meticulous re-creation and exhibition of an historic collaboration between two trailblazers of 20th-century collecting and decorating: Mrs. Webb and Katharine Prentis Murphy, for whom the house is named. Combining new research of letters and archival records with restoration and reproduction efforts, curators have re-captured the combination of Mrs. Murphy's flair for high-style 17th-and 18th-century textiles and furnishings with Mrs. Webb's preference for vernacular pieces. Together, the two composed groundbreaking period rooms that are, for the first time, restored to their original splendor.

1950 House. The 1950 House, new in 2000, is a 1,000 square-foot ranch house that reproduces suburban family life in Vermont in the 1950s. The 1950 House is the essence of post-war consumerism, right down to the Spam in the cupboards; the wringer washer in the basement; and the Studebaker in the driveway.

Collector's House takes visitors into the 21st century. The Collector's House is a new 20' x 80' structure - a modern blend of architecture composed of pre-fabricated metal and glass containers, and interior design by Albert Hadley, the nation's pre-eminent interior designer. The house is a ButlerŪ building, normally used for commercial buildings, with large glass windows and rooms constructed of shipping containers. Albert Hadley uses folk art from Shelburne Museum collections and contemporary objects to create the imagined home of a 21st-century folk art collector. The Collector's house provides the dramatic conclusion to Three Centuries of American Interiors, and represents an exciting step by the museum in to the realm of contemporary architecture.

Three Centuries of American Interiors remains open as a complete exhibition through October 14, 2001, after which several buildings close for the winter season. Settlers' House and the three 19th-century houses are permanent exhibitions at the museum. The 1950 House remains through 2002, and Collector's House through 2003.