Painters begin two month long job at museum

Date: 7/22/2010

July 21, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

HOLYOKE -- The work is now beginning on a $100,000 repair and painting job for the former home of the Skinner family.

City officials, museum supporters and museum personnel met on July 15 at Wistariahurst Museum for the kick-off of the project, which is expected to take two months.

William Messner, the chair of the Historic Holyoke at Wistariahurst, called the fundraising effort "a great accomplishment."

"A year and a half ago, the economy was going into the tank and we said we need to paint the house. What better time to go into a fundraising campaign?" Messner joked.

The mansion was built in 1875, Museum Director Melissa Boisselle explained, and has been a museum for the past 51 years. The mansion was the home of the William Skinner family, the owners of the Skinner Silk Mills, a prominent Holyoke manufacturer for generations.

Boisselle noted the painting project had much support not only from individual contributors but also area businesses. Sherwin Williams has donated the paint that will be used.

Mike Guenette, the owner of The Exterior Cleaning Place Inc., explained his company will scrape the exterior surfaces, make any repairs necessary and then apply a coat of primer and two coats of exterior paint.

He said what would make this job "a challenge" is what gave the mansion its name: the flowering wisteria vines. He explained the Department of Pubic Works would use equipment to draw the vines away from the house and keep it lifted while Guenette's crew repair and paint those areas of the house.

He called the situation "unusual."

The color of the house will match the newly renovated Carriage House, he added.

One hundred gallons of finish paint along with 50 gallons of primer and 50 gallons of trim pain are expected to be used, he said.