Cloverfields as of January 2020: Architects And Architecture Students Look Into Cloverfields' Opened Walls To Learn About 18th-Century Maryland Construction Methods
/Celebrating Maryland’s Architectural History—And Food!
On September 12, 2019, a number of architects and architecture students toured Cloverfields. Organized by the Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the tour allowed them to learn about 18th-century construction methods by looking into the opened walls of the historic house.
The AIA is a national organization for architects. The Chesapeake Bay Chapter is one of its nearly 300 regional units, and it focuses on the architecture of the region and its history.
The chapter organizes several educational events throughout the year. One of the most anticipated ones is the annual crab feast, where Chesapeake Bay architects and architecture enthusiasts meet to celebrate regional architecture—and food!
During 2019, the crab feast was held on the grounds of Cloverfields. Before the crab feast, attendees toured the 18th-century home.
In the video above, architect Devin Kimmel explains how this tour allowed architects to see into the walls of the house and learn about 18th-century construction methods. This educational component of the feast, Kimmel tells us, aligns perfectly with the objectives of the AIA, and also of the Cloverfields Preservation Foundation. Kimmel says:
What the AIA does is support architects. So, it gives an opportunity, if they have an event there, that we can then give tours, and opens it up to architects and people who would be interested in seeing the house while the house is still opened up.
Seeing into the walls, into how it’s built, how it’s constructed, and the process that we are going through to make it happen is important to architects. And the AIA being involved and supporting it and opening it up as part of the mission for the [Cloverfields Preservation] Foundation to let the public see the space and let everyone see what’s happening and what’s going on is really important.
People are extremely interested in the things I was just saying: the inside, the walls being open. And also you get a lot of wondering about what’s going to happen in the future: “What is it going to be? Will there be someone living there?” and those types of questions.
The tour was not limited to discussing the house, and also included explanations on how the restored gardens might look like in the future. As Kimmel explains:
Of course, we also displayed a lot about the gardens and the potential gardens that were there. The falling gardens got a lot of attention from people. People are very interested in that.
It’s one of those things where you can see the house and you get that the house is there, but then you just don’t understand that these beautiful parterre gardens were just under the surface there, just hiding.
Kimmel attended the crab feast with several members of his team. One of them is architectural designer Taksit J. Dhanagom. Dhanagom works at Kimmel Studio Architects, and specializes in Classical architecture and in historic preservation. He is working closely with Kimmel and with architectural historian Willie Graham to produce the construction documents necessary to restore Cloverfields to the year 1784.
In the video, Dhanagom tells us that architects and architecture students were particularly interested in the role of archaelogy in the restoration process, as well as in 18th-century construction methods:
We had a lot of people from the AIA. We also had a couple of people from the Anne Arundel Community College Architecture Department.
And a lot of those students were intrigued in the historical process and how the archeologists were able to determine what went where and what artifacts belonged to the site and what period they were in.
But they were also interested in the building practices that were used back in the day, and especially the unique building practices used at Cloverfields which set the cultural architecture that was to spring up in the Maryland, Chesapeake area.
Kimmel closes the video by underscoring the significance of the Cloverfields restoration:
It’s a one-of-a-kind house that is 314 years old, and we are pulling all this history together; we are pulling the research together. We are pulling the fieldwork together, which is a huge—figuring out little subtle things, a little ghosting on a wall where a molding once was.
We are just trying to pull all that together.
I can see excitement in them because it’s different from what they are used to working on and it’s something of a legacy project for all of us that we all care deeply about.
For Kimmel Studio Architects, participating in the writing of the history of a three-centuries-old home certainly qualifies as a legacy project.
Ongoing Restoration At The Site
The images below illustrate how the restoration process is moving along.
View of the front facade showing window and masonry restoration in progress. Photo by Pete Albert Photography.
View of the service wing kitchen reconstruction, masonry restoration, and roof work underway. Photo by Pete Albert Photography.
View of the north wall masonry restoration. Photo by Pete Albert Photography.
By: Devin S. Kimmel, of Kimmel Studio Architects
For: Cloverfields Preservation Foundation