Revealing the Exterior

Perhaps the most dramatic discovery on the exterior was the fact that the stucco finish on the building's exterior was applied after James Madison's death. Physical evidence ties the first stucco campaign to a circa 1855 building campaign that also included infilling several windows and doorways, altering the portico, rehabilitation of the cellar, construction of new hipped roofs on the wings, and the covering of the entire house with a standing-seam metal roof. Underneath the stucco, Madison's original bricks remained intact and they have been re-exposed as part of the restoration.

Roof

The remains of the original Madison-era roof coverings were uncovered during the investigation. Surviving 18th-century, round-butt wood shingles were found in the attic and they provided conclusive evidence for the roofing material over the main building and the portico. The investigation also demonstrated that the two c. 1810 wings were capped with nearly flat roofs and a carpenter's bill from c. 1812 revealed that sheet iron was used to cover them.

Windows and Doors

During the investigation, the fact that James Madison shifted and replaced virtually all the windows in the main house between 1809 and 1812 was discovered. They were replaced because the windows from the first two construction periods (c. 1764 and c. 1797) were not the same size and so new windows were needed to give the house a uniform appearance. This major change was unknown prior to the investigation and its discovery revealed that the c. 1810 renovations were much more extensive than originally thought.

A majority of the cellar windows were also found to have been replaced in c. 1855. The original windows were quite small and fortunately several were found to survive. Interestingly, the original cellar windows for the main block of the mansion were found to have never been fitted with glass and so remained open all year round.

As for the largest of Montpelier's windows and the opulent central entrance doorway below it, all doubts concerned their date were removed. The collusion of physical and documentary evidence demonstrated that they were both part of the 1809-1812 remodeling. Madison also diminished the widths of two doorways that flank the main entrance. He decided on this change for the same reason he wanted the windows replaced; in order to give the house a unified appearance.

Portico

Excavations undertaken during the investigation also located the top of the base molding for the gian Tuscan columns that front the mansion. Knowing the height of the base molding allowed the architects to reestablish the original height of the porch deck and, by extension, the approximate elevation for exterior grade during Madison's lifetime.

Colonnade

One the rear facade, the Madison-era colonnade was found to remain essentialy intact - a breath-taking survival.

Cornice

both cornice sections - that from c. 1760 and that from 1797-1800 - were found to be original and largely intact on the east and west facades. Amazingly, large sections of the cornice that had been removed from the north and south elevations during the duPont expansion were found in the attic where William duPont's plasterers used it to hang the ceiling of the third floor.