Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank everyone who worked on the Planned Preservation Project documentation, including …

Contents

Executive Summary

In the concluding years of the 1990s, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation recognized increasing concerns regarding the preservation of structures in the Historic Area. Analysis of two reports, a 1998 audit to note building conditions and also the 1998 annual exterior preventive maintenance inspection, identified key issues in the care of Historic Area structures resulting in part from a trend of deferred maintenance. Activities to address preservation issues at specific buildings were selected as a result of this analysis and designated Planned Preservation Projects. In addition, planned preservation projects are identified as funded activities to support critical facility needs of the current $500 million capital campaign entitled, Campaign for Colonial Williamsburg. This report describes the activities associated with the planned preservation project undertaken at the Ayscough House. The project began on September 27, 1999 and was completed on November 18, 1999.

Located on the north side of Francis Street, directly south of the Capitol, the Ayscough site operates as one of Colonial Williamsburg's trade complexes exhibiting gunsmithing as an example of the scope of industry in eighteenth-century Virginia. Preservation needs of the Ayscough House necessitated intervention, including replacing antiquated mechanical, electrical, and fire protection systems. The Ayscough House was also chosen for exterior and interior alterations to make it the first trade shop in the Historic Area accessible according to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (hereafter referred to as ADA).

New ADA ramp and fence being built

The original doorway between the northeast and northwest rooms had to be widened to ADA specifications

Description of Property

The Ayscough House is a timber-framed structure clad with beaded weatherboards. The first floor is divided into four rooms. The original 1½-story front portion includes two rooms with a garret above reached by a winding stair. This portion of the house measures roughly thirty feet by eighteen feet. A later two-room shed addition on the north or back side of the house lengthened the first story to twenty-six feet, making the building's footprint nearly square. One chimney stack servicing two fireplaces is roughly centered at the north end of the house and another servicing one fireplace is on the east wall. The main entrance to the building faces west to Blair Street. There are two other entrances, one on the north elevation and one on the east elevation. The exterior of the Ayscough House is painted ivory (W1073) with dark green shutters and light ivory trim.

The date of construction of the Ayscough House is not precisely known. By 1768 Christopher Ayscough was operating a tavern "fronting the south side of the Capitol" (Virginia Gazette — Purdie & Dixon edition — October 6, 1768). Ayscough owned a dwelling house, another adjoining house built for a store, and associated outbuildings. Whether Ayscough's "dwelling-house in the city" or his "house adjoining, that was built for a store" was the tavern, or if either of these structures provided the foundations for the present-day Ayscough House has not been determined with certainty. However, since one of the two original rooms was heated and one was not, the building on the site today arguably could be what Christopher Ayscough described in the September 20, 1770 (Purdie & Dixon) Virginia Gazette as "a house adjoining, that was built for a store" with his dwelling house/tavern nearby.

Ed Chappell further describes the 3 building as follows: "Addition of the two heated rear rooms makes [The Ayscough House] look more like a decent middling house, with four downstairs spaces, including the heated southeast room with stair. The generally good quality of the building after enlargement is expressed in the two raised-panel doors hung on H hinges with the hinges' stationary leaf hidden behind the single architraves. The doors are single-sided, suggesting the front spaces were considered superior to the rear ones and the left rear one [NW] superior to the right rear one [NE]. Also suggesting some quality are the relatively heavy chair rail (how much of this is original has not been determined) and (probably retrofitted) wainscoting in the left rear room"(Chappell 1994) .

By the time Colonial Williamsburg purchased the house in 1927, it was no longer recognizable as a colonial structure. Expansion to two stories and Greek Revival finishes overwhelmed the fabric of the eighteenth-century structure. Later features disguised the Ayscough House so thoroughly that the building was slated for "wrecking" as a post-Revolutionary intrusion until February of 1930 when T. R. Goodwin and Orin Bullock discovered the earlier materials and determined the building to be "well worthy of restoration". The Ayscough House was reassembled and restored between 1931 and 1932. The main entrance door was moved from the south elevation to the west elevation, a porch along the entire south elevation was removed, and other interior and exterior changes were made to enable the house to be used as a private residence and a working shop, including the addition of a door between the northwest room and the southwest room (shop) and a bay window in the shop to display the craftwork. The site operated as the exhibition site for the Cabinetmaker from 1937 until 1965, and was changed to the Gunsmith shop in 1966.

While the house is not considered one of the original eighty-eight structures remaining in Williamsburg because it was dismantled in the 1930s and reassembled on its repaired brick foundation using mostly new lumber, more eighteenth-century framing and finishes survive in the house than in several of the Historic Area buildings officially labeled "original".

Project Summary

The Ayscough House was chosen as a planned preservation project based on recommendations made after the 1998 building inspection. Originally, the project was only intended to cover replacement and upgrading of dated mechanical systems, but after determining the extent of the modifications necessary, the Foundation decided to also make the building ADA (1990) accessible.

Before the mechanical system changes were made, a modern partition that separated the cellar into two rooms was removed and a general clean-up was performed to make the cellar more open and the machinery more accessible. The mechanical systems, including an oil-fired boiler and air handling unit, were worn out and outdated and necessitated replacement. The fire and security detection systems were also in need of upgrades. A limited-area wet sprinkler system was added in the cellar to provide greater protection in the mechanical spaces.

The most visible of the changes was the construction of a wheelchair-accessible ramp leading to the east side door. One interior door had to be widened to allow wheelchair access. Resulting changes in visitor movement through the house also necessitated the addition of false storage and work chests to conceal modern air handling ducts and grilles. Other minor modifications were made within the house to accommodate the changes in the mechanical systems, the ADA requirements, and the needs of the interpreters and visitors. The following sections highlight the major components of the project.

New ADA ramp leading up to the door on the northeast end of the house

Ayscough House floor plan showing ADA ramp

Mechanical and Electrical Systems

The mechanical and electrical systems within the house required extensive work in order to ensure proper climate control. The chief systems necessitating replacement or modification were the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical, and fire detection systems.

Architectural Changes

The most striking changes to the Ayscough House were the architectural ones, especially on the exterior and interior of the building. The most noticeable change involved the addition of the ADA ramp.

Conclusion

The planned preservation project for the Ayscough House cost approximately $53,179, not including the addition of the ADA ramp, which was paid for out of an ADA fund.

The project went smoothly because of the extensive planning that preceded the work and on-site project management during the work. Discussions took place over several years between many Colonial Williamsburg departments on how to make the building ADA accessible. While placing the ramp on the east resulted in no exterior loss of original architectural materials and did not intrude on the atmosphere of the entire complex, the addition of the fence to hide the ramp will present issues in the future, as it is impossible to maintain the cast iron surfaces of the ramp without removing the fence.

Additional refinement of the HVAC system or interpretive programming may be needed in the future. The combination of forced air heating on the first floor and wood-burning fireplaces generates very dry conditions in the building and results in shrinkage of the gunsmiths' equipment. Also, the new supply duct in the northwest room collects wood shavings from a work bench above it and the new wood boxes limit return air to the grilles in the other two rooms.

Should changes be made in the future, such as the addition of air conditioning, precautions should be taken to preserve the remaining colonial architectural fabric.

Selected References

• Bullock, Helen. "Ayscough House Historical Report, Block 8 Building 5." Originally published in 1930. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research report Series - 1110, on file at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1990.
• Chappell, Edward. Unpublished memo, "Ayscough House", on file, Office of Architectural Collections Management, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, August 25, 1994.
• Geddy, V. M. Abstract of title to a certain property, situate on the north side of Francis Street, in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, December 1927, located on file in the Department of Archives and Records, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
• Lounsbury, Carl R. An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern Architecture and Landscape. New York, Oxford University Press, 1994.
• Moorehead, Singleton P. "Ayscough House, Kitchen, and well Architectural Report, Block 8, Building 5-9-9D." Originally published 1932 and 1954. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research report Series - 1112, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1990.
• Perry, Richard G., Michael A Jawer, John T. Murdoch, and James C. Dinegar, editors. "ADA Compliance Guidebook: A Checklist for Your Building." Building Owners and Managers International, Washington, DC, 1991.
• Ragland, H. S. "Ayscough House Archaeological Report, Block 8, Building 5-A." Originally published 1931. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research report Series - 1111, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1990.
• Reid, Roberta G. "Architectural Notes on the Ayscough House Restoration." Unpublished manuscript on file, Office of Architectural Collections Management, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1994.
• Stephenson, Mary A. "Ayscough House Historical report, Block 8, Building 5." Originally published in 1949. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series - 1113, on file at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1990.
• Taylor, Thomas H. The Williamsburg restoration and its reception by the American public: 1926 -1942. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1989.
• Whiffen, Marcus. The Eighteenth-Century Houses of Williamsburg: A Study of Architecture and Building in the Colonial Capital of Virginia. The University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1990.
• Yetter, George H. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia's Colonial Capitol. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1988.

Images

Photograph by Clyde Holmes, ca.1930.

Photograph by Todd and Brown, ca.1930.

Pre-restoration photos of the Ayscough House then known as the Bourbon House.

After the restoration, Robert DuBois McCreary lived in the house and ran the 'Forge and Wheel' out of the southwest room shop. Photograph by F. S. Lincoln, ca. 1935.

In 1937, Colonial Williamsburg started operating a working cabinetmaking shop out of the house. The house and outbuildings were renamed for Charles Ayscough who had a house and tavern on the site in the 1760s and 1770s. Photograph by Frank R. Nivison, ca. 1937.

By the 1950s, the sign had been changed, but the building remained the same. Photograph by Chiles Lawson, ca. 1957.

In 1965, the building ceased to be used for cabinetmaking, and in 1966, after some modification, the site was reopened as a working gunsmith shop and interpretive site.

A new air-handler unit was installed in the cellar to service the first floor. The new unit is capable of handling more static pressure than the old air handler.

A new gas-fired boiler was installed in place of the old oil-fired boiler to prevent the smell of oil in the exhibition rooms and the intrusion of oil deliveries.

The installation of the ADA ramp (right) necessitated the construction of fencing to hide it from view.

A long section of fencing runs along the east elevation of the house from the wellhead to Francis Street.

A smaller section of fencing hides the ramp from view along the north side of the house. Only a small section of the railing can be seen through the forge (circled at right).

To make the building wheelchair accessible, the exterior northeast doorway had to be widened (left). Architectural historian, Mark R. Wenger, designed a new 16-pane door (based on a colonial model) to allow for more light in the northeast room where the gunsmiths have a work space (below).

The original doorway between the northeast and northwest rooms had to be widened to provide wheelchair access through the north rooms to the southwest room shop. The original door is shown from the northwest room (above right).

After the doorway was widened (above left and right) the original door was rehung in place. Since it is now narrower than the doorway, it is kept open by a doorstop and latch (inset at right).

Modifications made to the interior original doorway to meet ADA requirements. The horizontal architrave that covers the door header was extended to the north. Drawing by Jessie Reid.

A field inventory form is filled out for every fragment. Above, is the inventory form for the eighteenth-century stud above, right) that was removed during the Planned Preservation Project.

False storage boxes were designed to hide modern return air grilles in the southwest room (left) and the northwest room (below left). The right hand photos show the barely visible grilles behind each box.

Iron baffles were added to the northeast and southeast fireplace openings. Since the fireplace openings were too high in relation to their width and therefore would not draw properly, the baffles, which consist of three wrought iron plates mounted flush with one another, were added to the top of the openings to help prevent smoke from entering the rooms.

These aerial photos show the Ayscough House's close proximity to the Capitol. The green between the house and the Capitol is often used as an encampment site during re-enactments. Photographs by David M. Doody, 1998.