Praise, scorn for Thoroughgood House renovation

VIRGINIA BEACH

After a nearly two-year renovation, the historic Adam Thoroughgood House is missing some of its history.

The kitchen doesn't look like a kitchen, its Colonial-style pots and pans and antique table replaced with storyboard panels.

The main parlor, where the Thoroughgood family entertained and relaxed, is now depicted as a room where the family might have eaten, with a dining table and chairs replacing the rest of the room's period furniture.

"All you do is walk in and look at it," said Richard Stuart, former president of the Thoroughgood Civic League. "You don't walk away feeling like you got a history lesson or idea of what life was like in early Colonial America."

"People in the neighborhood are upset."

Despite the extensive renovation, some Beach residents have doubts about how the city has beenmanaging the home, a National Historic Landmark and one of the oldest surviving early-Colonial homes in Virginia. They are worried that the city, which took over the property in 2003, has not solved basic problems, such as the need for a new air-conditioning system.

Thoroughgood neighborhood resident Bob Coffey is unhappy with the makeover.

"It's void of a lot of its artifacts and furniture," he said. "The furniture adds a lot to the story that an interpreter could tell."

The $475,773 restoration was partly funded by a $150,000 federal grant, with the rest paid by the city.

Jorja Jean, a teacher at Thoroughgood Elementary School and a founding president of the Friends of the Adam Thoroughgood House, said several projects that were supposed to be paid for were not completed, including special display lighting and installation of a new heating and air-conditioning system.

Much of the renovation focused on moisture control, with new door casings, doors and sills installed to keep moisture out. Jean said a new heating and cooling system is crucial to stabilize the house and the collection. The current system broke down after the home reopened in May, and has since been repaired.

Mark Reed, the city's historic resources coordinator who oversaw the renovation, said there wasn't enough funding to make the structural repairs and purchase a new heating and cooling system. Estimates for the system were around $150,000; Reed said the city would like to install a two-zone system that could remove humidity in the summer and add humidity in the winter.

Stabilizing the building's environment was more critical, Reed said, adding that he hopes to find funding soon for a heating and cooling system and to repair a stairway and second-level flooring.

Fluctuating moisture levels have damaged some of the wooden furniture that has been on display in the museum since it opened in 1957. Many of the 17th century furnishings were collected by the late Henry Clay Hofheimer II, a Norfolk businessman and philanthropist who saved the circa 1719 home and had it preserved.

The Adam Thoroughgood House Foundation helped restore the property after it acquired it in 1955. Later, the city of Norfolk owned the property and the Chrysler Museum of Art managed it. In 2003, the city of Virginia Beach acquired the property.

Conserving the furnishings is also a priority, Reed said, and some restoration is needed before they are put back on display. The rest of the collection will be displayed following a yearlong analysis of the moisture levels.

The analysis is a requirement of the grant funding; based on the results, some of Hofheimer's original collection, assembled on trips to England and Europe, might be displayed if conditions are suitable, Reed said.

Eventually, the city would like to move forward with interpretive planning that would more accurately reflect the house's 18th century history, Reed said. A good portion of the furnishings are from the late 17th century and predate the home, he said. The tour now focuses on great-great-grandson John Thoroughgood and his family's life in the home from the 1740s to around 1763.

The tour originally focused on the late 1600s, when the home was previously believed to have been built. Its namesake, Adam Thoroughgood, was an indentured servant who eventually became a landowner and a member of the House of Burgesses.

"Most of the pieces don't work well for the 1740-to-1763 period when John Thoroughgood was there," Reed said, adding that he doesn't expect the city to get rid of the collection. "We have never discussed selling or breaking up the collection in any way."

The city would like to develop a plan to tell the unique stories of all three of its historic houses - Thoroughgood, Lynnhaven House and Francis Land House -and the families that lived in them, he said.

Rita Frankenberry, 757-222-5102, rita.frankenberry@pilotonline.com