[log in to unmask] writes (about Tudor Place, a history museum in Georgetown):

>  I think the staff has done a great job in breaking down the layers of
history
>  on the house, and differentiating them, but maintaining the building as a
>  whole. I think the key is, they interpret the build as a 20th century
>  structure, and describe the continuum of the building's history.
>
>  Waving from the verandah,
>  Heidi

So, consider a building like the Old Merchant's House at 29 East 4th Street
in NYC.  I have always considered it airless and dry (last visit: 1995) and
thought their most interesting feature was not the glacier-preserved interior
but rather the until-just-recently desolation and decay of the neighborhood,
which has other, comparable houses but in spectacularly wrecked condition.

What's a good model for such an institution to make itself more interesting?
I've always thought the Old Merchants House should do comparative house tours
beginning with one or two wrecked houses and ending up in their building.

Swatting at the Hornets,  Christopher Gray