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In ca. 1901 the ca. 1812 cornice that wrapped around both the north and south wings of Montpelier was removed when the wings were expanded to two stories.  Unlike many other elements the duPonts removed, the cornice was not reused.  A possible reason may be that there was no place to reuse it since the main block cornice, which was expanded to wrap around the newly expanded wings, was radically different from the ca. 1812 wing cornice.  So how was the Restoration Team able to accurately reconstruct the cornice when there was nothing left of the original?

3f

The bottom image was taken in ca. 1890 and the top image was taken in ca. 1901 after the duPonts had enlarged the house by raising the wings to two stories and adding large additions to the rear.