The Berkeley House – Staunton, VA

History

The Berkeley House, formerly known as the Catlett House, is a historic property in the Gospel Hill neighborhood of Historic Downtown Staunton. It is a three story Queen-Anne style dwelling faced with cedar shingles on the upper stories and rough faced fieldstone on the foundation and first floor. It has a steep hipped roof broken by a tower and gables as well as a partial wrap around veranda.

The Berkeley House is located on the corner of Coalter St. and Berkeley Place, adjacent to Mary Baldwin College. Construction of the house was begun in 1896 by R.H. Catlett, a prominent local attorney. Catlett passed away that same year, leaving the house to his widow Fannie. The house remained in the family until 1973. After changing hands multiple times, the house became a retirement home for ladies.

Most recently, the house has been acquired by new owners who have started to rehabilitate the property through a series of renovations and restorations. The house will soon become a bed and breakfast.

Current Project

Currently, repairs are being made to the exterior of the house. Sections of the existing woodwork has weathered and deteriorated beyond repair. These sections have been repaired and replaced to match the original architecture. The coloration of the new and old work do not match up well enough to preserve the original stained appearance of the house, necessitating that the house be painted in a historical color scheme.

Lisa Coles and her crew with Augusta Steam-it have been contracted to paint the property. Currently we are providing exterior coatings for the house.

This page will be updated with more photos and information as the project continues.

Photos

Original Condition

Progress Photos

These are high quality images so load times may be a little slow.

The photos above were taken after the exterior carpentry work was done. There are several areas on the porch floor and ceiling which needed to have boards replaced. A lot of the cedar shingle also needed repaired and replaced. The carpenters did an excellent job with the repairs on The Berkeley House. They made one mistake though. In an attempt to protect the new wood they primed the exposed areas with an acrylic water based stain blocker. Unfortunately, cedar is high in tannin content and will bleed right through a water based primer. These areas are being re-primed with an oil stain blocker tinted toward the final finish color. The tower photo at the end shows a final coat of Davis Exterior Satin Acrylic house paint over their stain blocking oil primer.

Materials and Information

The house is being primed with:

Davis 3077 Int/Ext Alkyd Stain Blocking Primer
X-I-M Peelbond Primer

The house is being painted with:

Davis 1500 series Exterior Acrylic Satin House Paint
Davis 1700 series Gloss Urethane Enamel
Pratt & Lambert 3100 series Exterior Acrylic Satin House Paint

Colors

Colors used on the house are from Davis Paint’s Historic Colors of New England color chart.

The green color is Wainscot Green
The red color is Richardson Brick
Trim is Super One Coat White from Pratt & Lambert

Manufacturer Information

Davis Paint
3416 Chandler’s Mountain Rd.
Lynchburg, VA 24502
800-936-6363

Pratt & Lambert Paints
800-289-7728

X-I-M
800-965-6261

All product mentioned here are available at Morris Paint & Floor Covering, Inc. in Staunton, VA.

Painting Contractor

Augusta Steam-it
Lisa Coles – Owner
540-448-1475