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Date: 4/16/2015
SPRINGFIELD – Built in the 1883, the Barney Carriage House is getting a 2015 decorative update.
The popular venue at Forest Park for weddings and other events was restored more than 18 years ago and the interior design is now being brought up to date through the volunteer work of Leslie Bercume.
Bercume has chosen new wallpaper, carpeting and window treatments for the space. Bercume is both an interior and graphic designer.
Patrick Sullivan, director of Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management, explained the updating will cost about $60,000 and is funded through the Everett Barney Trust. Barney, the Springfield industrialist and inventor, donated his property to the city for the creation of Forest Park. Sullivan added the front and side porches are also being repaired and the labor is through the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department.
Sullivan said, “People complained the wallpaper was too colorful and loud.”
Bercume added, “It was time for a change.”
Bercume started the work with four months of with research on how Barney had decorated his home Pecousic Villa. The mansion was demolished when Interstate 91 was constructed. She went through photographs in the collection of the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History to see how he had decorated it.
She also did research online as Barney had traveled extensively and found sources for Victorian era wallpapers. The results of her research include a far subtler pattern of embossed damask.
Bercume said her design decisions were “keeping in what Barney would have had.”
Sullivan said the work currently undertaken would be finished for the event season starting in May. The Carriage House is booked every weekend through December, but there are still dates open during the week, he added.
The next stage of the renovation will be the bar and restroom areas, which will be in January 2016, Sullivan said. Bercume noted she has found a hand painted wallpaper that will adorn the bar area.