The M-NCPPC purchased the 49-room manor, designed and built by Count Jules Henri de Sibour in 1928 for Sumner Welles, an undersecretary of state in the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, in 1976. Two years later, it was entered on the National Register of Historical Places, the nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation.
Heard’s husband, Tom Heard, a senior construction inspector with the M-NCPPC who has worked on the project since 2002, recalled a Jan. 7, 2004, fire that destroyed the upper floor while the renovation was under way.
Mark Brady, a spokesperson for the Prince George’s County Fire Department, said the fire was accidentally caused by workers using a saw in the attic.
‘‘Nicer portions of the building were destroyed either by the fire or water,” John Blackburn said of the damage. Blackburn is a senior principal of District-based Blackburn Architects, P.C., who has been involved with the renovation for years.
‘‘The basic intent of the project was improving the facade,” he said
On Sunday, visitors appreciated the work that had been done.
‘‘This is solid and fantastic,” said Valerie Steele of Camp Springs as she entered the manor.
Local historian Jane Taylor Thomas, who with Nathania Branch-Miles co-authored the historic pictorial ‘‘Images of America: Oxon Hill,” said she had visited the manor several years ago to attend an event. ‘‘It now looks more luxurious than it was before,” Thomas said.
As they enjoyed the gourmet food Sunday, visitors watched a Passion Runway cultural show directed by theater costume designer Evgenia Luzhina-Salazar and musician Serge Khrichenko. The show included tango dances, antics by a clown and ballet.
Cesar Lujan, project manager with Blackburn Architects, said costs along the way and approvals from the Prince George’s County Historic Commission about colors and designs of fixtures were two major challenges. ‘‘We had to find alternatives close in style and color to the original,” Lujan said. ‘‘I also think time was an issue.”
‘‘All 88 windows and 14 French doors were stripped bare,” Heard said. ‘‘All of the window glass were re-glazed.”
He said some of the rooms had white oak floors in herringbone pattern and care was taken to make it look as original as possible.
Heard pointed to the shining Italian marble-and-granite floors, which had been left damaged from water used to extinguish the fire. He said people worked for 12 days to bring the floors back to life.
‘‘It was half an inch or so of buildup so dense it had to be buffed off with a diamond-bit file,” Blackburn said.
Some of the doorknobs that were imported from France went missing and Heard said replicas were cast from the original in Leesburg, Va.
Barring the Bridal Dressing Room, the major part of the building on the second floor is out of bounds for the public as it still needs work. Heard said code compliance requires the second floor to have wheelchair egress, sprinklers and a second stairway.
E-mail Ahmar Mustikhan at amustikhan@gazette.net.
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