" This is the Wickham House. It's a house museum here in Richmond today, just three blocks from the Governor's mansion. It was built in 1811, 2 years before the mansion, and it was built for a man named John Wickham who came here from Long Island, New York. He married the mayor's daughter. He became a lawyer or banker. He was the wealthiest man in town and he hired a really interesting character Alexander Parris who was a Maine boy who went to Massachusetts and became a housewright, an architect, whatever you wanna call him. He studied with Bulfinch the great neoclassical architect from Boston. He learned all there was to learn about the excitement of neoclassical architecture and design, things that were being discovered in Greece and Rome and that were being copied by the English, and here in Richmond he found his ideal client, the man with very deep pockets. So in 1811, he created what is really a gem of neoclassicism. Let's go inside and meet Jennifer Ley, who's gonna let us have a peek at some of the rooms. I'm so glad we're starting our tour here in this stair hall, 'cause it's really an emblem of what this house is all about."

" Yes, it definitely is. This is probably the centerpiece of the house. We called this as an elliptical staircase."

" Yeah, when you first look at it, you think it's round, but I guess it is an ellipse, right?"

" It is an ellipse and it really, if you look up at it, it resembles an artist palette. It's very creative."

" Yeah, and it was an opportunity for Alexander Parris to go deep into those pockets of the client and bring together all the finest Richmond artisans, and craftsman, and joiners to create this."

" Yes."

" This is really a work of art, everything from the volute down here to the carving. Tell me about the carving."

" The carving actually is very special. It is, all of these designs are unique to Virginia. This is a dogwood flower here and a magnolia bud there."

" How fabulous and, of course, the coloration in here is so muted that it really livens all these details. I know this is a large Federal-era house and where do you wanna begin the tour?"

" I think we should begin in the parlors."

" I'll follow you."

" Okay."

" We uncovered all of this painter in our restoration of about 10 years ago."

" Uh huh."

" What you see over here in the panels, are basically what we call the Pompeian style."

" This is a reproduction of what you uncovered?"

" Yes, it is."

" Alright."

" Although we have left some of the originals uncovered in one corner of this room. And they're actually very interesting to our visitors."

" Well, explain that to me."

" Well, when we did the restoration, we uncovered about 11 layers of paint and the original you can see in one corner and that's what we have tried"

" to restore. That's from about 1815. To the far left of that corner is what was created in about 1850. It was an attempt to be a little more Victorian that the second owner made."

" So that the color is less vibrant in the mid 19th century."

" Yes."

" than it was in the early 19th century in the original house."

" Right, although you've noticed that the frame is a lot more a three dimensional and"

" Indeed. Indeed."

" more Victorian model."

" So that what you've done is really tried to recreate the Pompeian look, which almost creates a paneled sense, but it's just using the thin maroon to outline the different colors."

" Definitely."

" But what about these beautiful over door paintings that are on all three doors?"

" Well, these actually have an interesting story behind them. They are drawings of Homer's the Iliad."

" Uh huh."

" And they're taken after a book of drawings send by John Flaxman in the late 18th century."

" So were they also uncovered as part of restoration?"

" No, actually they were uncovered earlier, they were uncovered by Mann Valentine who was the last owner of the house and we still don't know how he knew they were here, but they have actually been uncovered for about a hundred years now."

" Oh they're in great condition."

" Yes."

" Wow! So the room is somewhat sparsely furnished, isn't it?"

" Well, it is and we're not sure exactly how much furniture would have been in here. But we do know that this is about the furniture they would have needed for the purpose of this room. Mrs. Wickham spent a good deal of her day here entertaining guests and also working with her daughters on there lessons, there needlepoint, and there mending."

" This would be the drawing room."

" Wow Jennifer, this is bright color."

" It certainly is."

" This is vermilion, isn't it?"

" Yes."

" And emerald green or peacock green."

" We're not sure that these are the exact colors that were used at that time period in this house. But we do know they were available for purchase when Wickham was buying all of his furniture."

" Now from the sociological perspective, these are rich people in Richmond, and it's 1810 or 1815, what are they trying to achieve?"

" Well this room would have been the most formal room in the house designed specifically for entertaining."

" Uh huh."

" The family would really not have spent anytime in here at all. Basically what they were trying to achieve was to let everyone know just how much money they had and what there status was in society and one way to do that in the Federal period was through your furnishings and particularly through your upholstery or draperies and your glass like the chandelier you see overhead."

" Uh huh. Now, it's interesting 'cause the new republic has rejected the old mother country influence in terms of art and yet they're still kind of looking to Europe for inspiration and they're combining elements. They're combining elements out of Greek history and Roman design with things that are of the republic like the eagles, the spread wings. What kind of furniture is this?"

" Well, these tables actually did belong to Mr. Wickham. He had them built for this room so we love to have them here. They were built by Charles Lannuier in New York City. He was a French immigrant so he was very familiar with the classical designs."

" He was a contemporary like Duncan Phyfe."

" Yes, he was."

" Okay."

" Uh huh."

" What do you call this? A diva?"

" Would have been a Grecian couch."

" Uh huh, and is this typical, the brass of casters underneath the lion's paw or whatever that is?"

" Actually, at this time period, casters would have been very typical and you see them on the bottom of almost every piece of furniture in this room."

" Why is that?"

" Well, in the Federal time period, even in a large mansion like this, there wasn't a lot of room to do all the different things you needed to do. And there wasn't such a thing as central heating so at different times of the year for different functions you would want to be either closer to the windows, closer to the fireplace or maybe have the card tables out instead of the Grecian couches."

" So, you wanted to move them around, that's why they all have wheels or casters."

" Exactly, exactly."

" The architecture of the room which I assume is the original from a theoretically 1800s. It's amazing, the plaster worked up there on the ceiling?"

" Uh huh."

" That's original?"

" It is original. We found that and it is a pattern from a book by Asher Benjamin."

" Okay."

" He's a famous name in Central America."

" And then again the corners detailing around the room."

" Yes, It's fabulous."

" That's all picked out and plaster work and the garlands and everything."

" Uh huh."

" But the painted decoration on the walls are different, they're obviously that's flat."

" It is flat, but it is designed to be 3-dimensional. You can almost see it coming out at you. In each of these designs, you see a bacchante. They were followers of Bacchus, again the classical theme coming out. And each one of them have different symbols in their hand representing entertainment, or dancing, or music to represent what was going on in this room."