The Aiken-Rhett House: A comparative architectural paint study (South Carolina)

This is a technical study of the architectural finishes in the 1818 Aiken-Rhett House in Charleston, South Carolina. Archival research and evaluation of the nineteenth-century additions are presented to interpret the appearance of the interiors during key periods of use. Reflected visible and ultraviolet light cross-section microscopy were used to establish chronologies for “paint archaeology” to identify and date comparatively original elements, reused woodwork, and later alterations.; There are currently no standards for architectural paint analysis and one goal of this research was to establish protocols that would be universally applicable and repeatable. Paint stratigraphies help to relate the coatings in the mansion to those in the kitchen/laundry building. Fluorochrome staining, FTIR microspectroscopy, and Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy were used to establish the binders. Polarized light microscopy was used to optically identify pigments, followed by SEM-EDS to identify inorganic components. A colorimeter was employed to measure colors in the CIE L*a*b* and Munsell systems. These analytical procedures apply to virtually any architectural paint investigation.; The evidence provides insight into the comparative modes of living of one of the wealthiest families in Charleston and their enslaved servants before the Civil War, as well as how the family continued to live in the house until 1972 when it became a museum property. Analysis of the surviving coatings is one of the few methods by which it is possible to understand more fully life in the slave spaces. The slave quarters were found to have had decorative finishes and brilliant colors from the time property was acquired by William Aiken, Jr., to the end of the nineteenth century. From 1818 to 1833, while the house was rented out, most of the kitchen/laundry walls had one layer of unpigmented limewash. Similarly, during the rental period the woodwork in the mansion was painted cream color with dark gray baseboards. When William Aiken, Jr., expanded the house in 1833–38 the woodwork was oak-grained and selected bedchambers were wallpapered. In 1858 the house was more extravagantly redecorated with decorative painting, gilding, and imported French wallpapers. Comparatively little was done after 1858, leaving the nineteenth-century evidence readily accessible.