Image from wikipedia
The Conservation Center was honored to partner with the historic Barker Mansion in Michigan City, Indiana, on the conservation of numerous furnishings throughout the home, including key pieces from the Mansion’s celebrated French Room.
Image courtesy of The Barker Mansion.
Image courtesy of The Barker Mansion.
The Barker Mansion stood as the home of John H. Barker, heir to the Haskell & Barker Car Company, once one of the largest freight car manufacturers in the country. Barker expanded the business into a national enterprise, making it one of Indiana’s most important employers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His success was matched by philanthropy: his daughter, Catherine Barker, later established the Barker Annuity Fund in 1924, one of the first privately funded pension plans, and The Barker Welfare Foundation in 1934.
The dining room of The Barker Mansion.
The terrace of The Barker Mansion.
Built in 1857 and expanded between 1905 and 1909, the mansion embodied the grandeur of the Gilded Age with 38 rooms, ornate interiors, and European-inspired design. Among its most distinctive spaces was the French Room, designed in 1905 by architect Frederick Wainwright Perkins. Modeled after Marie Antoinette’s boudoir at Versailles’ Petit Trianon, the room reflected Katherine Fitzgerald Barker’s admiration for French Rococo style during her travels.
Image courtesy of The Barker Mansion.
Over the past century, the French Room’s intricate plasterwork and painted finishes dulled under layers of overpaint, while its furnishings suffered the effects of age, environmental change, and use. A major restoration campaign in recent years returned the room to its former elegance. Specialists at Terrawood Design & Custom Wood Craft led the plaster restoration, stripping away layers of paint, repairing water-damaged areas, and revealing the finely carved Rococo reliefs. During this work, artisans discovered the original carvers’ pencil marks and even a signature, offering rare insight into the room’s creation.
Image courtesy of The Barker Mansion.
In tandem with this architectural renewal, The Conservation Center treated a group of furniture from the Mansion’s collection—pieces from multiple rooms that together spoke to the Barkers’ cosmopolitan taste and refinement. Among these, several highlights from the French Room showcased the complexity of the work involved.
Look through this gallery of treatment photos in progress, and then scroll down to learn more:
A chaise lounge required extensive stabilization: its painted wooden frame and cane back were friable and torn, while the upholstery had faded with time. The Conservation Center consolidated the fragile paint layer, secured the joinery, and carefully repaired and inpainted the canework.
Before treatment.
After treatment.
The dressing table and triptych mirror presented challenges in both structural stability and finish preservation. Loose joinery, split wood, faded silk, and damaged cane were all addressed, returning the piece to both aesthetic and functional integrity.
Before treatment.
After treatment.
The French Room’s caned bedsteads had suffered paint losses, weakened joinery, and insecure cane panels. Conservation treatment stabilized the fragile painted surface, secured the decorative elements, and restored the beds’ graceful presence.
Before treatment.
After treatment.
Together, these treatments demonstrate the level of care required to preserve the home’s original furnishings.
The French Room in 2025.
Today, visitors step into the French Room and see it much as Katherine Barker first envisioned it—an elegant, Versailles-inspired space in the heart of the Midwest. The Mansion stands not only as a reminder of the Barkers’ legacy but as a testament to the power of preservation to keep history vivid, tangible, and alive for generations to come.
The French Room in 2025.
Plan you visit to The Barker Mansion here!
Sources:
https://barkermansion.org/blog/contributors-corner-july-2023/
