Thank You for a Great 2024!

Victoria Mansion is now closed for the season. We will re-open for our regular season on May 1, 2025.

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In this newsletter:

• Holiday Season Wrap-Up & Event Gallery
• Off-Season Projects
• Upcoming Programs & Events

Holiday Event Gallery

Our holiday events and programs drew several sold-out crowds, from family programming to our signature Gala. A few highlights from this year's events are shared below.

Guests enjoy a champagne toast at the Mansion during the Holiday Gala on December 5th.

Guests explore the Parlor (decorated by Harmons Floral Company) during the Holiday Gala.

Board President Drew Oestreicher (on stairs, left) and Executive Director Tim Brosnihan (on stairs, right) address the crowd at the Holiday Gala.

Goldenwood Ensembles performs outside the Turkish Smoking room (decorated by Dawn Hachey) during the Holiday Gala.

Guests gather on the second floor of the Stair Hall (decorated by Dan Hatt, Chevaughn Laverriere, and Theresa Ruel) during the Holiday Gala.

Following the reception at Victoria Mansion, guests enjoy conversation, drinks, and hors d'oeuvres at the Cumberland Club during the Holiday Gala.

Andrew Harris performs A Magical Dickensian Celebration on December 19th - the 181st anniversary of the publication of A Christmas Carol.

Andrew Harris as Charles Dickens involves the audience in his presentation of Ring in the New on January 4th.

Portland Ballet presented scenes from A Victorian Nutcracker in the Stair Hall on December 8th and 15th.

Docent Linda reads to families for our first in-person Stories on the Staircase series since 2019.

Special guest Kim Block returned to read a selection of stories for the Ruffi Stuffie Sleepover, named for our museum cat Ruffi, on December 11th.

Children's stuffed animals explore the Library (decorated by Chevaughn Marie Designs) during the Ruffi Stuffie Sleepover.

Gala photos by Hayley Maness.

Victoria Mansion's "brownstone graveyard" archive will inform carvings for the Front Bay's restoration.

Victoria Mansion is closed to the public until May 1st, but several projects are in the works both onsite and further afield.

Conservation of the decoratively painted surfaces on the second floor of the Stair Hall will continue through the off-season. Canvases depicting idyllic European countryside scenes that were originally adhered to the walls within trompe l'oeil painted frames have been removed to the Gianfranco Pocobene Studio in Massachusetts, where they will be restored prior to re-installation.

This canvas depicting a woman and child in an idyllic European landscape was adhered to the wall between the Red Bedroom and Sitting Room. It is one of a set of seven paintings in a similar style from the second floor Stair Hall.

Corrine Long and Gianfranco Pocobene carefully remove the previously pictured canvas from its painted frame. They will restore it, along with five others, at their studio in Massachusetts. The canvas once adhered to an empty seventh frame has been lost to time.

Conservation of the painted surfaces on the second floor Stair Hall should be completed by the end of Summer 2025.* Work will be ongoing during the 2025 regular season, with conservators working in full view as guests tour the Mansion.

Part of this work also requires the stabilization and restoration of decorative plaster on the ceiling outside the Turkish Smoking Room. Plasterer Jon Sampson, who stabilized parts of the ceiling above the stair landing in the 2024 off-season, has returned to the Mansion to address this critical need. Preservation woodworkers Bob and Sebastian Cariddi are also stabilizing one of the brackets and interior woodwork on the ceiling outside the Turkish Smoking Room and Sitting Room.

*This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant number MA-253203-OMS-23.

Brownstone blocks removed from the Front Bay in late October 2024. These blocks are now in Barre, VT, where they will provide information for new carvings or be prepared for re-installation onto the building later this Spring. The removal was done by Keeley Crane Service, overseen by Stone & Lime Historic Restoration Services.

Meanwhile, brownstone blocks, capitals, and other elements are being dressed and carved at Granite Importers in Barre, VT. Part of the sculpting process involves the creation of a 3D model based on one of the original brownstone capitals in the Mansion's basement archive (often nicknamed the "brownstone graveyard"). To create the model, Conservator Siobhan Lindsay has been taking photos of all angles of the capital to send to a sculptor in New York State, who will design the model using photogrammetry software, and then create a physical facsimile of what the original capital would have looked like. This model will inform the team in Vermont as they carve into the brownstone.

The Mansion's basement is home to multiple, often several-thousand-pound brownstone architectural elements that have been removed from the building over the last 50 years. Intact, or mostly intact, elements such as capitals and balusters help preservation tradespeople accurately re-create Henry Austin's intended design when restoring the building's exterior.

More news about the Front Bay restoration will be forthcoming - stay tuned!

Help support our work with a gift to our Annual Fund before the end of our fiscal year on March 31st! Contributions from our community help us continue our work to preserve and share Victoria Mansion and its collections with the broadest possible audience. We are indebted to our supporters for helping us continue to move the work we do forward!

Thank you for joining us in 2024! Keep an eye on our Events page for information about upcoming programs.

The Reception Room in natural light during an open shutters tour.

Every year, we host a series of events exclusively for our Members. Last year's calendar included a preview reception for our Celebration of National Textiles Day, a Basement to Tower tour, a Backstairs Lives tour, an Open Shutters tour, and a brownstone lecture by Executive Director Tim Brosnihan.

We are working on building our 2025 calendar of events - if you are a Member, stay tuned! Want to share your thoughts for future Member events? Contact Director of Development Ann O'Hagan at aohagan@victoriamansion.org.

Memberships start at $50 (or $30 for educators and university students). Members receive free admission for tours during both the regular and holiday seasons, discounts on ticketed events, and more.

Learn more about our Membership program and join any time on our website.

Portland History Docent Program

Course Begins February 27th

The Portland History Docent program participating sites are Eastern Cemetery, Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad, Evergreen Cemetery, Tate House, Fifth Maine Museum, Portland Observatory, Maine Historical Society/Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Western Cemetery, Maine Irish Heritage Center, and Victoria Mansion.

The Portland History Docent Program (PHD) is a collaborative effort by local historic sites to provide a ten-week training program for new prospective volunteer guides. Learn from experts, make connections, and embark on visits to eleven of Greater Portland’s historic sites.

Victoria Mansion is proud to be one of the founding sites of PHD, now in its 30th year. Many members of our docent corps and staff began their Victoria Mansion journeys through the PHD program.

We hope you can join us!

Learn more about the participating historic sites and register for the ten-week course on the PHD website. Classes run from late February through early May, 2025.

2025 Preservation Trades Workshop

Application Cycle Opening This Winter

Trades professionals learn how to properly care for and restore historic windows during the inaugural Preservation Trades Training Workshop in April 2024. The two-week, paid workshop was led by preservationist and historic window specialist John Leeke.

Our Preservation Trades Training Workshop will return this Spring (dates to be announced), with a focus on maintaining and preserving exterior woodwork on older and historic buildings.

For years, preservationists have lamented the shortage of workers skilled in the special methods and techniques required to work sensitively on historic buildings. While this problem can’t be fixed overnight, we firmly believe that knowledge sharing will be part of the solution.

Victoria Mansion plans to offer these opportunities on an ongoing basis, expanding both the number apprenticeships created, as well as the number of preservation specialties offered. Applications for the 2025 workshop will be available this Winter - stay tuned.

If you have any questions about this program or future Preservation Trades Workshops, please contact Executive Director Tim Brosnihan at tbrosnihan@victoriamansion.org.

We are looking for docents to join us in 2025!

In addition to the PHD program, we accept individual applications for volunteers on a rolling, year-round basis. For more information or to sign up, please email Stacia Hanscom, Director of Education & Public Programs at shanscom@victoriamansion.org.

Support Victoria Mansion's Annual Fund!

Help us continue our preservation and educational efforts with a donation to our Annual Fund!

Keeping the arts alive in our communities helps foster connections while enhancing our quality of life. Victoria Mansion is simultaneously a museum of art, architecture, and the decorative arts, as well as a site rich in social, economic, and political history, offering multiple pathways to connect to the issues of the day. As a nonprofit organization, Victoria Mansion depends on contributions from our community near and far to ensure the preservation of this National Historic Landmark for generations to come.

When you give to Victoria Mansion’s Annual Fund, your contribution directly supports the myriad efforts to conserve, maintain, restore, and share this National Historic Landmark with the public, from historic preservation to educational programming and beyond.



Members enjoy year-round free admission, discounts in the Museum Shop, and invitations to exclusive events. Become a member today to assist in our conservation efforts and receive the first news about upcoming Victoria Mansion events and programs.

The Staff of Victoria Mansion

Timothy Brosnihan, Executive Director

Ann O'Hagan, Director of Development

Stacia Hanscom, Director of Education & Public Programs

Siobhan Lindsay, Conservator

Brittany Cook, Development & Communications Coordinator

Molly Kingsbury, Museum Shop Buyer & Merchandiser

Sue Flaherty, Visitor Services Coordinator

Michelle Josephson, Senior Site Manager

Sarah Coughlin, Scheduling Coordinator

Jean Piekart, Site Manager

Elena Popov Savchenko, Museum Housekeeper

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