In Living Color: The History of House Paints in America

Calling all house-proud Maplewood residents! Need some ideas for paint colors? This profusely illustrated talk at 2:00 p.m. by preservation consultant and Columbia University Professor Janet W. Foster provides a fascinating look at the materials and colors of historic American architecture. Ms. Foster has wide experience in analysis and research on paints and other finishes used to protect and decorate the homes of Americans from the Colonial era to the early 20th century. This year she collaborated with the Board of the Durand-Hedden House to develop its current new color scheme. Learn how the paint history on this particular house provides a great starting point for examining the trends that made architecture in the past both beautiful and fashionable.

Visitors will also be able to peruse the exhibit, “The Maplewood Theater: Its Forgotten Saga,” which explores the ever-changing 87-year history of the Maplewood Theater, spanning silent films, vaudeville, talkies, a famed era of live theater, neighborhood cinema, and the current sixplex.

The Country Store will be open and featuring historic-themed treasures, many at discounted prices: mini school slates, early American children’s games, books and toys, facsimile documents, quill pens and ink, historic cook books, cookie molds, tin lanterns, hand blown blue birds, reproductive decorative items and ceramics, and more. The hard-to-find original “Doors of Maplewood” poster and “Smile,” the history of Olympic Park, will also be available.
Doors open at 1 p.m. Talk begins at 2 p.m. House and Country Store will be open until 4 p.m.
The Durand-Hedden House is dedicated to telling the history of the development of Maplewood and the surrounding area in new and engaging ways. It is located in Grasmere Park at 523 Ridgewood Road in Maplewood. For more information or to arrange group tours call 973-763-7712.