PHOTO: The Nathan Church House (red building) is part of the Rufus Porter Museum and one of Bridgton’s oldest buildings. (Rufus Porter Museum photo)
BRIDGTON — The Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity has been awarded a grant to restore the ceiling of the parlor in the ca. 1790 Nathan Church House, one of two historic homes that comprise the museum campus and one of Bridgton’s oldest surviving buildings.
The museum received $2,500 from the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust of Portland. Grant funding will be used to hire Tony Castro of Tony Castro & Company, a historic painting and plaster restoration professional, to remove the cloth wallpaper bands from the ceiling of the parlor of the Nathan Church House as well as restore the plaster underneath the cloth.
The parlor contains Rufus Porter School landscape murals that are among the few examples of this technique still on display in situ. The museum has recognized the need to preserve the historic and artistic value of these walls ever since it acquired the Church House in 2005. With exterior renovations completed a few year ago, including new clapboards and storm windows, the next step to ensuring that this local gem will be available to the public in perpetuity is to address the condition of the ceiling.
“We are truly grateful to have the continued support of the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust” said Karla Leandri Rider, executive director. “The trust recognizes the importance of our mission to celebrate Rufus Porter’s legacy and preserve it for the community and for generations to come.”
Additional funding for this project was previously received from other grant sources.
