RESTORING CENTURY-OLD CHINESE WALLPAPER

Jekyll's Mistletoe Cottage, designed by Charles Alling Gifford for locomotive manufacturer Henry Kirke Porter, features a light-filled conservatory originally adorned with exported Chinese wallpaper, block-printed with colorful birds and rice grasses. A lattice of shellacked bamboo rods once outlined the panels. The paper—actually a whisper-thin cotton gauze adhered to paper—dates to 1900 and was all but lost to time at one point, remaining only on the ceiling, where it suffered from mold, UV light, insect debris, poor repairs, and decades of humidity. With a restoration expense of more than $86,000 including support from the nonprofit Friends of Jekyll Island, the Jekyll Island Authority called in conservators from the nonprofit Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC).

r A team of three preservationists spent several days removing the original paper, which was confirmed to contain lead, arsenic, and other toxins. Clad in protective gear and armed with spatulas and scalpels, the team carefully scraped the paper onto foam rolls. The bamboo rods around the panels were mapped and tagged so they could be reinstalled in exactly the original manner. Salvageable panels were cleaned, photographed, and archived at Jekyll Island.

r The section of paper in the best condition was sent to the NEDCC lab in Andover, Massachusetts, cleaned with brushes and sponges, and documented photographically and in writing. Because of its fragility, a traditional Japanese adhesive, funori, was applied. The section was blotter-washed and gently humidified and bleached to remove stains. Tears were repaired with toned Japanese paper and wheat starch paste.

r Collections photographers then took overlapping images of the panel, stitching it together meticulously in Photoshop. Individual motif elements were restored digitally, using sections that were protected behind bamboo for color testing.

r The pattern for installation was then reconstructed to ensure seamless repeats of the motif.

r The Jekyll Island Authority decided to enlist a local wallpaper hanger to install the reproduced paper rather than conservators, so tests were performed to find a suitable paper that would resist print fade and be durable enough to hang.

r The NEDCC then printed 1,555 square feet of panels, enough for all four walls and the ceiling. So far, only the ceiling panels have been installed, showing visitors what the paper would have looked like when it rolled out in 1900. The best-preserved, archivally framed original panel is on view in the conservatory.