Location

Queens, NY

Services

Conditions Assessment

Materials Analysis

Conservation Treatments

Documentation

Field & Lab Testing

Materials Sourcing

Materials

Wood

Wallpaper

Fabric

Awards

2004 New York Landmarks Conservancy Lucy G. Moses Award

Image Credit: Louis Armstrong House Museum

In 1943 Louis Armstrong and his wife, Lucille, bought and moved into a modest house in Corona, Queens, where they lived for the remainder of their lives.  After Lucille’s death, the house was made a National Historic Landmark and a New York City Landmark.  Extensive work was undertaken to repair the house before it opened its doors to the public as a museum.

JBC was privileged to work on the conservation of the house’s 20th century finishes and furnishings. This work included conserving and recreating original fabrics, wall coverings, and other elements for the museum. JBC performed wallpaper repairs consisted of the re-adhesion of lifted papers, piecing-in losses using original remnants, infill painting areas of loss not suitable for piecing-in, and replacement in full for some sections. Our conservators worked with a wallpaper manufacturer to replicate papers that were beyond repair. Built-in cabinets in the living room that once held Armstrong’s recording tapes, were repaired with wood fills and inpainting as well as general cleaning and polishing. Small losses, cracks, and scratches in the 1950s Kitchen cabinets and Formica countertops were repaired, as were small cracks in the wood furnishings.