Kitchen Wing Restoration

In May 1881, Mark Twain wrote a friend, and noted "The masons & bricklayers are hard at work tearing down & enlarging the kitchen; plumbers are all over the house uprooting & re-arranging all the pipes."

Along with numerous other improvements to house and grounds, the renovation and expansion of the Kitchen Wing was completed in 1881 along with the interior redecoration of the living quarters of the house.

In 2003 and 2004, in anticipation of restoring the first floor of the Kitchen Wing, building archaeologists worked throughout the house searching for clues to the work done in 1881 by the masons, bricklayers, plumbers, painters, and carpenters. Using their skills and training as archaeologists, conservators, and preservation carpenters, the team of specialists have discovered what the Twain-era floors looked like; the color the walls were painted, how the woodwork was finished; and how the rooms were partitioned. Between 1903 (when Twain sold the house) and 2003, subsequent occupants of The Mark Twain House-including a single family, a boys school, apartment tenants and even the administrative offices of the museum-made many changes to the first floor of the Kitchen Wing.

Researchers identified six phases of major construction or renovation work for the time period between 1874, when the wing was first constructed, until 2003. It was the job of the building archaeologists to identify the phases of work and untangle the physical evidence that would later help them understand how the spaces appeared in the mid to late1880s.

Using careful and selective demolition and the powerful tool of paint sampling, building archaeology researchers have discovered features long hidden and forgotten, such as a dumb waiter and pass-throughs, and the location of sinks, gas light fixtures, and speaking tubes. The careful examination of building materials, paint layers and the manners in which adjacent surfaces (such as a wall and ceiling) join together has revealed to building archaeologists how the first floor of the Kitchen Wing was divided; compared to 2003, it was radically different.

The reconstruction of the cooking range area illustrates the careful methodology of our building archaeology project and shows how dramatically a feature can evolve or the lifetime of the building.

As recently as November 2003, the chimney mass in the kitchen appeared to be a sealed up fireplace with a Greek-revival style mantel. Physical evidence indicates that the mantel was salvaged from another building and added to the chimney mass when the kitchen was converted into an apartment in the early 1920s.

By carefully sampling the plastered surface of the chimney mass, researchers were able to discern different eras of work. By peeling back layer after layer of paint, plaster and masonry, researchers went back in time, so to speak, to reveal the Clemens-era cooking space during the 1880s.

Through the building archaeology methodology, researchers drew an elevation of the reconstructed cooking range space during Phase II of the kitchen (1881-1903). The cooking range shown in the drawing was chosen because its form is consistent with the physical evidence. It is not known what style or brand of cooking range the Clemens family actually owned.

In the next several months, The Mark Twain House & Museum will restore the butler's pantry, back pantry, kitchen, dumb waiter, scullery, servant's hall, and passageway to the Dining Room. The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2005, at which time the restored Butler's Pantry and kitchen area will be open to the public.