THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610250082
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: 32 lines
IT APPEARS our forefathers' tastes in interior design were different than previously thought.
A study conducted before the restoration of two of the most important exhibition buildings owned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the 18th-century homes of George Wythe, circa 1750, and John Brush, circa 1718, provided new insights.
The architectural investigation revealed information on the use of rooms and the association of wallpaper and color.
Margaret Beck Pritchard, curator of Colonial Williamsburg's collections of prints, maps and wallpaper, will lecture at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Chrysler Museum Theater on the recent discoveries and how they were incorporated into what are believed to be more authentic representations of the colonial era.
Pritchard received her bachelor's degree in studio art from Hollins College, then spent a year at the Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum as an intern before receiving a fellowship at Colonial Williamsburg to assist in refurnishing the Governor's Palace. She was named to her curator post in 1981 and is currently writing a catalog on Colonial Williamsburg's map collection.
Pritchard's lecture, titled ``Off the Wall: New Thoughts on Color and Pattern in 18th-Century Interiors,'' is free for members of the Friends of the Historic Houses and $5 for others. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Margaret Pritchard by CNB