Gillette Case Intrigues Renovators Author

GILLETTE CASE INTRIGUES RENOVATORS Associated Press lated over the years as one of the nation's leading actors. The resulting moisture problems haunted Gillette Most of Gillette's success had come from his portrayal, on long after the castle's completion by the renowned EAST HADDAM — Over the past two years, David stage and screen, of the fictional detective Sherlock Hartford firm of Porteus & Walker. And they continue Barkin has found himself investigating a mortar mys- Holmes, from the novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. to this day, as workers feverishly rebuild stone walls tery perhaps only Sherlock Holmes could unravel. surrounding the castle and administrators prepare Barkin, a New Haven architect, has been lurking in a Gillette Castle — closed now for nearly three years as it and the surrounding 184 acres of state park grounds plans for a visitor's center, new exhibits and the re- damp and musty castle, muttering things like, "What introduction of Gillette's famed miniature railroad. did he mean here?" as he uncovers mustard, green, red, undergo a $10.1 million restoration and improvement program — had been intended by its eccentric first Most of the improvements will coincide with the cas- black and burgundy mortar — the gooey material that, tle's planned reopening on Memorial Day weekend once dry, holds stone walls together. owner to resemble a ruin on the Rhine River in Germa- ny. Part of the aesthetic, massive fieldstone walls un- "He had a leaking castle from the day he built it," PLEASE SEE GILLETTE, PAGE B5 Barkin says of William Gillette, the man who designed dulate unevenly, allowing water to pool in certain and paid nearly $1 million for the castle in 1919, using areas — especially around the windows, which display his ripe imagination and the money he had accumu- evidence of awnings once having been deployed. THE HARTFORD COURANT • SUNDAY,AUGUST 12, 2001 B5 ASSOCIATED PRESS GILLETTE CASTLE in East Haddam and the surrounding 184 acres of state park grounds are part of a $10.1 million restoration and improvement program. The tarps on the roof, in the photo below, are indicative of the leaks that have caused extensive water damage. Gillette CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1 next year. "This place is on the National Register," says Barkin, a partner in Barkin Andrade Architects, during a recent tour of the castle. "So whatever we do needs to be sen- sitive to the original design. Within that stip- ulation, there's GILLETTE room for a lot of interpretation. It's a balancing act." One area of interpretation con- cerns what Gillette had in mind FILE PHOTO with colored mortar. castle with a Palm Pilot and cell ers of paint, as well as the likeli- "We think his intent was to phone rather than a Holmesian hood of when each was applied. have the look of a dry-laid wall magnifying glass. Among the planned changes to with no mortar, based on the ear- Barkin says the state wouldn't the castle: a sprinkler and smoke- liest pictures we've seen," says want to pay for painting mortar detection system; and the con- Barkin, who travels through the every five years or so, and he version of one room into an ar- doubts colored mortars would be chive, where materials related to able to achieve the same rich col- Gillette's castle and life can be or that Gillette intended. So the stored for later exhibit. repainting of the castle walls will "We spent 800 hours just docu- proceed with an off-white mortar menting this building, measuring that matches the color already every square inch of it — every used on the castle parapets. Vis- floor, every ceiling," Barkin says. itors, however, will be able to "If this is successful, people view the burgundy color at a dis- should expect to see a clean, re- play in the conservatory. Some of stored castle, but they won't no- the other colors Gillette experi- tice much beyond that," Barkin mented with may be seen by says. sharp-eyed visitors once the One thing visitors will notice at home reopens. some point, outside on the The project at Gillette Castle grounds, is the restoration of Gil- State Park is in the second phase. lette's famed miniature railroad. The fmal phase, scheduled to "We will never run it the way conclude with the castle's reopen- Gillette ran it — all over his prop- ing next year, will be highlighted erty," says Linda Levine, pro- by the construction of a new 8,600- gram specialist in the Depart- square-foot visitor's center that ment of Environmental will double as a gift shop and of- Protection's state parks division. fice space for park staff. Still, it won't be quite the same Questions swirl around Gil- without the famous actor at the lette's use of insulation. It appears helm, a fun-loving fellow who that he installed sawdust as an in- used to host people like actress sulator, or perhaps as a sound- Helen Hayes, actor and director proofer. In either case, the materi- Charlie Chaplin and theoretical al caused dry rot in the basement. physicist Albert Einstein. "I think someone sold him a bill "He took all kinds of people in of goods," Barkin says. [the train]," says Levine, who is Another area of uncertainty in- overseeing the Gillette Castle volves the original paint covering project. "He'd just open the throt- the castle's walls and doors. An tle and take off. Some of his guests analysis, using a 30-power micro- were not as pleased as others, but scope, should reveal several lay- it was his hobby." .

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