Northshore Home magazine highlights the best in architectural design, new construction and renovations, interiors, and landscape design.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/579535
32 FALL 2015 A NYONE WHO'S WALKED INTO A HISTORIC HOUSE museum is familiar with their usual setup: a series of staid rooms, with velvet ropes prevent- ing people from entering completely or at all. Visitors peek inside a room from the doorway, craning their necks to see its far corners or back walls, without ever really get- ting a full understanding of what they're looking at. "The physical barriers can be kind of off-putting to people. You're always held on the outside of the space," says Paula Richter, curator for exhibitions and research at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM). That's no longer the case at PEM's 1727 Ropes Man- sion, which has been closed and under renovation since 2009, when the house experienced a small fire. "We took the opportunity to really rethink and try to refresh and reimagine the ways that we present the house to the public," says Richter, who co-curated the Ropes Mansion's reinstallation with Dean Lahikainen, PEM's curator of American Decorative Art. Top, The dining room is set for Christmas dinner. Bottom, The early-19th- century stove has been immaculately restored. inspire nshoremag.com/nshorehome/