Your Life

Sunday, Jun. 01, 2008

Beauvoir home returns to its original 1852 glory

Restorers even left in builders' 'flaws'

The post-Katrina restoration of Beauvoir House, the 1852 National Historic Landmark in Biloxi, is remarkable but not just because the exacting work was accomplished in a year's time. The biggest attention-getter is an appearance that harkens to the days when U.S. statesman and Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived there.

Modern trappings are gone, except the necessities of utilities and security. Even the ceiling artwork, called trompe d'oeil, is being restored to its old self with three-dimensional shadowing.

Visitors touring the home will see art restorers at work, but the rest of Beauvoir is ready for the Tuesday reopening. The more accurate paint colors imbue the lighter, airy feel that existed in Davis' time, 1877 to 1889.

Twentieth-century white paint is gone from window casings, mantels and doors to bring back the then-fashionable faux wood and marble techniques. Original plaster damaged from leaking roofs is conserved. Heart pine floors are refinished. Etched-glass panes are back on the front doors.

"History has certainly made the Beauvoir Mansion a major landmark in Mississippi's life story, including surviving two major hurricanes," said Larry Albert, whose Hattiesburg company, Albert & Associates, oversaw repairs to the house owned by the Mississippi Division, United Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The Beauvoir House restoration is costing $3.9 million, the bulk from federal and state historic preservation money with strict oversight by the Mississippi Department of Archives & History. Volunteers, insurance settlements, private donations and such programs as the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures have also been vital to bringing back the house, grounds, furnishings and damaged museum artifacts.

In all Beauvoir has survived 21 hurricanes, as well as early developers - who tried to buy the beachfront land from the Davis family until it was sold in 1902 to the SCV as a monument to Davis and home for aging Confederate veterans. Its latest role as a museum made Beauvoir the Coast's best-known heritage tourism site.

Albert & Associates had spent 16 years on restorations, which Katrina wiped out in one day. About 25 percent of Beauvoir was destroyed, mostly porches and piers, but the house built by Mississippi planter James Brown survived.

"This building demonstrates that our forefathers knew how to build correctly on an active coast line," Albert said. "In all of my research and studies concerning old buildings, this one stands out in our nation as very unique."