We’re seeing some major progress on the Maryland Avenue Landscape Project this week. The crews have finished digging the drywells, which are four to five feet deep and now lined with heavy landscape cloth and filled with stones. The masons from Juan Hunil’s crew are beginning to pull up the historic brick from the lead walks to the HHH hyphens. The lead walks will be widened to 100 inches – even with the outer edges of the doorway projections. This will create better access to the building and – importantly – emphasize the symmetrical nature of the building’s front façade. Every element has a reason for its placement in Buckland’s Palladian scheme. The masons are sorting the bricks, separating historic brick from some newer materials, and will re-place historic brick in the lead walks.
Next steps are to complete filling the drywell’s uppermost foot with soil, completing the lead walks, and beginning work on the city sidewalk. Now the sidewalk in front of the house is closed due to the construction work, but the museum is open for tours daily (except Tuesdays) from noon to 5 p.m. Entrance is through the Cumberland Court gate, rather than through the north hyphen gift shop.
