
Restoring the West Front of the Mansion
Our staff worked diligently to remove 28 layers of paint and sand, in order to assess and conserve the architectural elements of the Mansion’s west front. Incredibly, we determined 83 percent of the siding boards are original. During the project, our preservation carpenters identified and addressed gaps in the siding boards, small areas of deterioration, and some earlier wood fills that needed replacing. Our painters then replicated the sand-painting process described and used by Washington in the 18th century.