Park Avenue Armory Veterans Room

A monument of late 19th-century decorative arts, the Veterans Room in the historic Park Avenue Armory is the most significant remaining intact interior by Louis C. Tiffany Associated Artists in the world. Under the guide of Herzog & de Meuron with Platt Byard Dovell White Architects, EverGreene conservators studied the historic wall covering, and with Studio E, created new wallpaper that mirrors the color balance and multi-stepped process of the original design by Tiffany, Samuel Colman, and Candace Wheeler.

The process began with an investigation and analysis of the original wallpaper. Conservators stabilized the historic paper, used a scalpel to remove it from the walls, and then encapsulated it for preservation. Once the paper was removed, the damaged plaster substrate was treated and repaired so the new wallpaper could be safely and securely installed. In the studio, designers and artists studied the original form and created prototypes for the new design that incorporated multiple hand-applied stencils including the Japanese woodblock wave and layered chain-link designs. The final result was an intricate layering of historic and contemporary design techniques, a geometric code indicating the application of hand-painted highlights, and custom-created metallics that make the paper shimmer and stand out as a work of art on its own.