The Winchester Hiram Lodge, located at 118 North Loudoun Street, needs your help. As you may remember, in March 2012 the Lodge was vandalized during a break-in and several of the fresco paintings on the third floor were damaged.
The frescos were painted on the walls and ceiling of the Lodge in 1868 by a Mr. Ango from the Peabody Institute of Baltimore. More history and images of the treasured frescos may be viewed at the Lodge’s website www.winchesterhiram21.org. Although the vandalized artwork has since been restored, the Lodge is continuing work to preserve the rest of the undamaged frescos. The work will remove the layers of grime and soot that have accumulated over the years and return the paintings to their original luster in order to match the already restored panels. To see some examples of the ongoing restoration/cleaning process, visit the Picasa album or watch the slideshow.
Currently, the Lodge requires about $50,000 to finish the restoration work on 6 side panels. For more information on how to donate to the fresco preservation project, call Larry Renner at 540-722-0172.