Figure 1:
Front Hallway wallpaper



Figure 2:
Parlor carpet design




Figure 3:
Stairway carpet runner




Figure 4:
Dining Room carpet design




Figure 4a:
Section of actual Dining Room carpet




Figure 5:
Dining Room wallpaper border




Southwest Chamber carpet




Southwest Chamber wallpaper




Parlor border wallpaper




Secondary wallpaper border for Parlor

The McLellan House stands today as a remarkably intact example of Federal, or Neo-classical, architecture. The interior reflects how it could have been decorated following its construction in 1801. The architectural elements of the original structure still have such a presence that, rather than creating fully furnished and decorated period rooms, a carefully thought out design philosophy has been developed that employs wall and floor coverings and modern furnishings to complement the expression of the architecture while encouraging the accessibility of the spaces for activities ranging from educational programs to elegant receptions.

Only fragmentary evidence of furnishes original to the House were uncovered during extensive research, because there were many successive decorating schemes in the past 200 years. The information that has “come to the surface,” however, is of major import; for example, original impressions of horizontally-seamed wallpaper were uncovered on plaster surfaces in the dining room. Wallpaper of the Federal era was not very wide and was made of joined strips of paper since it was not yet technologically possible to produce continuous rolls; thus, finding ghosted seamed paper provided a solid foundation on which to build. After examining every clue given up by the House, the process for determining how to furnish the rooms had two remaining components: researching evidence from other households in the region which date back to the same time period, and exploring the contemporary marketplace to see what is available today.

Portland’s probate records (which describe personal property) were destroyed by fire, but valuable information was garnered from the records in surrounding towns. For example, Saco and Biddeford at the turn of the 19th century had residents similar in affluence and social standing to the McLellans, and there is documentation of the use of imported English carpets as floorcoverings. The Maine Historical Society has copies of local newspapers which advertised British and American wallpapers in the late 1700s and early 1800s, but included nothing from France. The Society and the Museum both have in their collections trunks made in Portland between 1801 and 1805 that are lined with American-made wallpaper. Records exist of Hugh McLellan’s shipping activities, and his ties were strongest with England, so it is logical to conclude that many of the materials used to furnish the House came from there. There is also reference in Asa Clapp’s account records to his purchasing a painted floorcloth from Hugh McLellan for the sum of $35 (which was a significant sum for a painted floorcovering) when he purchased the House in 1817. From these and other sources, Museum staff have been able to piece together a solid understanding of the materials most likely used to decorate the House.

Exploring the marketplace to determine what materials are available today has been a crucial component of realizing plans for the House. Since there is no direct evidence of specific patterns or colors for original finishes, it was decided that to develop and produce new designs would be cost restrictive and would not be more accurate than something comparable in material and origin already in existence. Happily, the contemporary marketplace includes historic reproductions of wall and floor coverings of extraordinary accuracy and quality. These materials, combined with our exhaustive research, have yielded a decorative plan that allows us to complete the architectural interior of the McLellan House and recreate the past in all of its vivid pattern and color.

An important factor in making design decisions has been the realization that in 1801 the building was the home of the McLellan family, and each room was not decorated as a disparate location, but as part of a larger design aesthetic that reflected the tastes of the family. Hugh McLellan was well settled into both marriage and middle age when he built the House, and would likely have looked to the later rococo and early classical tastes of the later 1700s, with which he was already familiar, rather than to the heavier classicized influences of the early 1800s, for decorating ideas. Finishes have been carefully chosen with that in mind, and so that the flow of colors and patterns from room to room are integrated as it would have been in a family home of the early 1800s.

In the front hallway the walls are covered with a reproduction American wallpaper with French-inspired arabesques and a floral border, based on wallpaper in the collection at Old Sturbridge Village (Figure 1). The paper were manufactured by Adelphi Paper Hangings, Inc., a company that specializes in reproduction block printed papers. These papers are produced in the same manner as they would have been in the 1800s?block printed with paint onto laid sheets that have been joined horizontally and have a wonderful textural quality that is very different from modern wallpapers. The parlor and dining room walls are covered with solid painted papers and block printed border papers (Figure 5). The center stairway and the floors in the dining room and parlor are covered with English wool carpets. The carpets were produced by Woodward Grosvenor and Co., which was established in 1790 and whose extensive archives helped inform our decision-making process. The dining room and parlor have Brussels carpeting (Figures 2, 4, and 4a), which is a looped pile carpet (historically less expensive to produce than Wilton, or cut pile, carpeting), in large repeating floral motifs to coordinate with the wall coverings. The stairway carpet runner (Figure 3) features brass rods between each tread, with a design from archives in England. This carpet is the more expensive Wilton carpet because the denser cut pile is traditionally more durable on risers and will not weaken or break. The front hallway, which is a high traffic area, is covered with a painted floorcloth similar to one which we believe, from records and archival photographs of the House, to be the floorcloth purchased by Asa Clapp. Painted floorcloths were a durable alternative to carpeting. The floorcloth was created for us by Marylou Davis of Woodstock, Connecticut. After being painted with a geometric pattern derived from an 18th-century pattern book and varnished, this heavy canvas cloth resembles linoleum flooring.

How to place furniture in the rooms has been a major consideration, as well. Pieces of furniture need to have aesthetic appeal but must also be fully functional; the furniture will be utilized for a variety of Museum programs and activities. For the dining room, an exciting solution was proposed. The Museum presented a challenge to master furniture makers and craftsmen throughout the region, charging them with the design of a fully functional dining table and set of chairs which would exemplify the strengths of contemporary design while also gaining inspiration from the traditions of the past. Lee Schuette, a furniture maker based in Kittery Point, Maine, was awarded the commission. Schuette’s mahogany table and 12 chairs, with aluminum accents and stainless steel mesh chair seats, were inspired by the elegant design language of George Hepplewhite, an 18th-century English designer, but the simplicity of line and choice of materials accentuates the contemporary functionality which is needed for 21st-century meetings or formal dinners.

The McLellan House and L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries opened to the public on October 5, 2002. Together with the Charles Shipman Payson Building they provides the backdrop for visitors to embark on an amazing journey through three centuries of art, architecture, and design.