President Hayes’ house renovated to 19th-century look

Associated Press

FREMONT, Ohio

The northwest Ohio home of former President Rutherford B. Hayes has undergone renovations to give it not a modern look, but more of the appearance it had when Hayes and his wife, Lucy, lived there in the late 19th century.

Saturday’s open house at the site in Fremont marked a $1.2 million restoration project that took nearly five years, The Blade in Toledo reported. Seven of the 31 rooms at the mansion.

Carefully cleaned paintings hang where the Hayes family positioned them, and the replicated wall coverings and carpets match those chosen by the couple during their post-presidential years. Piles of books are stacked throughout the home, as Hayes often had them. His wife’s comb and brush sit on her dressing table.

“Now you’ll get to see the home as Rutherford and Lucy had it looking, and that’s what people want to see,” said Thomas Culbertson, executive director of the Hayes Center. “Now you’ll get the flavor of a Victorian home rather than an interior decorator’s idea of a neocolonial look with puddled drapes.”

The decor had been showing its age prior to the renovation, Culbertson said.

“I like it much better,” he said this week.

Interior photos of the home taken in the 1880s were used to guide the work, which was funded with a mix of state and grant money and private contributions. The former president also had a habit of keeping everything from receipts to furnishings, which benefited the team trying to replicate the older look.

Upholstery was reproduced, and the wallpaper was designed as it would have been in that era. Floors and chandeliers were polished.

But not everything is neat. The Hayes Presidential Center is collecting more books to add to tables and shelves in the Hayes library.

“The president really had the place junked up, so I’m trying to junk it up some more,” Culbertson said.