Historic Körner’s Folly, 413 South Main Street, is pleased to announce the continuation of Operation Restoration, a long term project with the goal of restoring and preserving the Victorian house museum.

Jule Körner died in 1924, and his wife died in 1934.  After that, Körner’s Folly was never again lived in as a full-time family home.  Over the decades, time, age, and weather have all taken their toll on Körner’s Folly.  Despite multiple re-purposes, by the 1960s, the house sat unused and vulnerable to vandalism.  Fortunately, in the 1970s, a group of 26 local families, including Körner descendants purchased the house.  Their goal was to restore and preserve Körner’s Folly for the education and enjoyment of the public.  They eventually created the Körner’s Folly Foundation, a nonprofit organization, and had the house listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Over 40 years later – from 2012-2015 – the first major restorative work took place, to completely stabilize the exterior structure of Körner’s Folly.  The house’s foundation was repaired, the porches were restored, and the entire roof was replaced.  Now that the home is water-tight and structurally stable, interior restoration work is underway.  This summer, restoration work began into the home’s main kitchen.

Restoration is the process of depicting the form, features, and character of a property at a particular period of time.  Throughout the restoration process at Körner’s Folly, the Foundation focuses on the house’s 1897-1905 appearance, when the home was at the height of family activity.  The goal is to move through the house, restoring one room at a time, so the house is never closed for tours.  New rooms are being restored each year, three were completed in 2015.  It is a remarkable time to see historic restoration in action.

One of the most challenging aspects of restoring the 135 year-old house is to maintain the home’s historic charm, character, and “lived-in” feel.  Although restoration work brings in new materials and revitalizes each room, it is important that Körner’s Folly remains historic in appearance, and is not overly restored to look brand new.  For example, during the kitchen restoration, extra care was taken to save the original tile floors and hardware, rather than replace them with a modern equivalent.

The first step in the restoration process is to research the history of the room, including the original paint color schemes.  To determine the original paint colors of the kitchen, David Black, AIA/APT of HagerSmith Design of Raleigh, North Carolina, took multiple paint samples of the kitchen. Samples were removed from the wood trim, doors, window sash, wall plaster, and built-in cabinets using a scalpel. Each sample was evaluated with a microscope to identify its original color.

With the historic color analysis complete, work began to repair unstable infrastructure, remove modern elements added to the house over time, replicate and repair missing or damaged plaster details and woodwork, and refinish, clean, and paint architectural surfaces.  However, this project really came to in the final phase – when painters were able to successfully restore the kitchen to Jule’s original color scheme. The plaster walls and the furniture have been returned to a dark red color; the wood window and door trim, window sash, ceiling, baseboards, fireplace trim, and cabinet doors are dark brown – a distinctly Victorian look.  The dark trim and vibrant color scheme will offer visitors a stark contrast to the previously white walls and trim in the kitchen.

As we peel back the layers of paint, read through family letters, and look back at old photographs, we begin to gain a better understanding of not only the house itself, but also the people who lived, breathed, and slept here. Even more of Jule’s eccentric personality becomes clear when we uncover the original color schemes. The floor tiles match the original wall colors, giving visitors a better sense of Jule’s original vision. We learn about the family’s likes, their interests, their joys, and their fears. Eventually, as all the pieces begin to come together, we gain a glimmer of what it might have been like to live here.

Restoration of the Kitchen is made possible by Wolfe & Associates in Honor of Mary Cook for her more than twenty years of service to the Law Firm and her many years as Board Member and Secretary of the Körner’s Folly Foundation.  Stay tuned for more information about this exciting restoration project!

Main Kitchen before restoration. Note the white walls and furniture.

Historic Körner’s Folly has undergone major exterior restorative work over the last 2 years.  And now, the work is moving inside.  The Rose Room, Jule Körner’s daughter Doré’s bedroom, is the first to undergo serious interior restoration work.  The Körner’s Folly Foundation hopes to bring the room back to its 1905 condition, when Jule renovated the room for Doré’s sixteenth birthday.

The restoration process will involve a variety of components.  In order to understand the color and material of the walls when Doré used the room, a paint analysis has been done of the current plaster.  This step will allow us to know the exact colors of the room when it was occupied by Doré, giving us an appropriate color palette for other objects and patterns in the room.

Like the rest of the building, the Rose Room contains many original decorative features.  Plaster moldings will be recast and wood details will be duplicated to mimic Jule’s original design.  The pine floors, painted grey over the years, will be sanded down to their original wood finish. The Körner’s Folly Foundation Director, Dale Pennington, feels the efforts will provide new insight into Jule Körner’s dynamic personality as well as provide a better understanding of local life in Victorian America.  She remarks, “The restoration process feels a bit like being a history detective.  As we start to peel back the layers of paint, read through family letters, and look back at old photographs, we begin to gain a better understanding of not only the room itself, but also the people who lived, breathed, and slept there.”

Fortunately for the Körner’s Folly Foundation, the Rose Room is an excellent room to learn from.  Relatively well preserved, our work during this restoration stage will provide us with the insight and knowledge to move forward with larger and substantially more deteriorated rooms.  The Foundation hopes the challenge of restoring the Rose Room will also build connections in the community, helping us develop a network of conservators in the area.

The restoration process is not only a venture for the Körner’s Folly Foundation, but is very close to the hearts of the remaining Körner descendents.  With many Körner relatives active in Kernersville, they are excited to see their mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and even great-great-grandmother’s room restored for the public.  The restoration project, funded by Wolfe & Associates, is in honor of Doré Körner’s daughter, Polly Körner Donnell Wolfe.

The Körner’s Folly Foundation is accomplishing these goals within the framework of its mission, to preserve and restore Körner’s Folly for the education and enjoyment of the public.  A beloved landmark within the Kernersville community, the Folly has become a destination for many families within North Carolina, as well as throughout the nation and abroad.  The Folly’s ability to educate the public about life in Victorian America and Jule’s incredible design vision have compelled many to support our efforts to restore Jule’s home and business.

Körner’s Folly is the architectural wonder and home of artist and designer Jule Gilmer Körner.  Built in 1880 in Kernersville, North Carolina, the house originally served to display his interior design portfolio.  The house is comprised of twenty-two rooms, separated into three floors on seven levels, with ceilings ranging in height from five and a half feet to over twenty-five feet tall.  In every room, Jule designed unique doorways, windows, and fireplaces, hoping to attract clients who visited his home.

Color History of the Rose Room, Korner’s Folly