Upstairs Landing

Landing after restoration

Even smaller areas in the house like the landing and landing hall were in need of mending. As for its dimensions, the height from the floor to the ceiling is 114”. As in other spaces like the kitchen, restoration workers unravelled layers of wallpaper. The bottom layer was a coat of brown paint on the plaster. A sheet of green book binding material followed. Indeed, such a second layer was of a green grassmat type. Through the restoration project, the walls were later repainted in this colour. Looking up, workers also remarked that there were patches of drywall and plaster on the ceiling. Aside from these decorative and structural details, there were many other observations that were made. For one, a cord was uncovered under the door moulding. In fact, this cord extended under the stair rail and downstairs, into the southeast corner of the kitchen. On the east wall of the landing hall, just to the left of the stairs, workers noted that round nails had been used to put coat rail and stair rail moulding on green leaf wallpaper. The coat rail’s measurements in particular were 71 ¼” in terms of its height from the floor, and 5 1/8” in terms of its width. Lastly, workers found a Cosmopolitan magazine cover under the floorboards.

Further notice could be taken specifically of the north and south walls of the landing hall. On one hand, the north wall bore many holes. On the immediate right of the doorway that leads into the storage room, a 2-inch wide hole was deduced by workers to mark the placement of a former light switch. Above this was another hole, one that measured 4” X 7”. Moreover, seven nail holes were found in the plaster on the left side of the doorframe. The south wall was just as abundant in traces. For one, a patch of plywood was found in the plaster above the doorway that leads into the second bedroom. Next to the trace of plywood, white and silver-dotted ceiling paper had started to come down onto the wall. Indeed, workers found it under the green wallpaper. Even a trace of green paint from the walls was present on the door moulding to cupola or turret.