Rendering of completed Menokin Glass House Project

The Glass House Project

Our Bold Plan

Menokin strives to create a new paradigm in conservation and heritage management through our Glass House Project and its concept of dynamic preservation. This project aims to present a transparent view into the social, political, and economic forces that both shaped Menokin's past, and which still shape our world today. The project design, developed by architects Machado Silvetti, presents a unique treatment for an existing historic house ruin of historical significance.

The house will not be reconstructed as it once was; rather, innovative display techniques will be used to reveal the historic fabric of the building. Parts of the missing exterior of the original house will be replaced with architectural glass. Inside the structure, glass will provide a catwalk and a transparent floor to reveal the "guts" of the original house . This approach allows visitors to experience the remains of the house in its preserved state for their own interpretation—connecting the past to the present.

By visually showing the process of reconstruction, the story of Menokin will be told not as a snapshot in time, but as a continuing narrative, serving as a powerful teaching tool for visitors, architects, and preservationists across the globe.

Join our mission to complete the Glass House Project by supporting us as we connect with our shared past while looking toward the future. Learn all the ways you may support Menokin in its mission here!

view videos about the Glass House Project

Nakita and Bo discuss the Glass House Project.

Process animation from Machado Silvetti includes a virtual walk-through rendering

A revolutionary re-imagining of a historic structure at Menokin

Michael J. Lewis in the Wall Street Journal named Menokin’s Glass House Project “ … our first important postmodern restoration. It is a cannonball flung between the feet of the historic preservation community.”
Read the entire Wall Street Journal article on the Glass House Project here!

Left: Menokin house photographed by the Historic American Building Survey, circa 1940. Right: digital rendering of the Glass House from Machado Silvetti.

Our Most Recent Work

Deconstructing the South Porch

Construction in 2020 commenced on rehabilitating the south (rear) and west standing portions of the ruin. Though standing, both walls were held up by wood scaffolding for several years. Before work could be done on both walls, the south porch needed to be deconstructed, cataloged and organized in order to remove a large locust tree that had grown through the masonry structure.

1_Mel Creery_Locust Tree1_1997jpg copy (3).jpg

Archeaologist disassemble South Porch April 28 2020 (Ward Bucher).jpg

“I realized that this idea of using glass to replace what was missing provided an opportunity that was unique. I became fascinated by this concept of using the fabric that’s there and the glass to recreate something that nobody in the historic preservation field has ever done before.”
– THE HONORABLE W. TAYLOE MURPHY, JR.
Former President, Menokin Foundation Board of Trustees

Raise the Glass Campaign

Raise the Glass is an $9.5 million historic initiative to replace the missing walls, floors, and roof sections of Menokin’s 18th-century ruin with architectural glass, allowing visitors to see and experience the remaining original construction from over 250 years ago. The fusion of architecture and history will create something entirely new in the field of historic preservation and interpretation. It epitomizes the blend of antiquated and modern, providing a deeper understanding of the connections between history, architecture, the building arts, and the landscape. Learn more about supporting the Raise the Glass Campaign here.

The Menokin Glass Project Team

Leading the Menokin Project Team is architectural firm Machado Silvetti, noted by architecture critic Paul Goldberger as “modernists who have a love of classicism and believe that an architect best respects history not by imitating it, but by teasing its spirit into new forms.”

The firm has won numerous awards, including the first-ever Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

“It was a privilege to be chosen by the Menokin Foundation as the architects. … With the decisive involvement of the Foundation, this place is on its way to becoming an active and truly unique cultural and historical resource not only for its region, where it will join as a bright star in a constellation of significant sites, but surely for the nation and the world.”
– JORGE SILVETTI, Founding Principal of Machado Silvetti
Nelson Robinson Jr. Professor of Architecture at The Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Menokin Project Team

Machado Silvetti
Design Architecture, Lead Consultant
Boston, Massachusetts

Reed Hilderbrand LLC –
Allan Brown, Consultant
Landscape Architecture
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Robert Silman Associates
Structural Engineering
New York, New York

Eckersley O’Callaghan
Glass Design
New York, New York

John Fidler
Preservation Technology Inc.
Marina Del Ray, California

Oak Grove Restoration Company
General Contracting and Consulting: Specializing in Historic Preservation Laytonsville, MD

Dominion Traditional Building Group
Stone Masonry
Marshall, VA

DATA Investigations, LLC
Archaeology
Gloucester Point, VA

Consigli Construction Company
Project Management
Washington, DC

Skanska USA
Owner’s Representative
Washington, DC

Encore Sustainable Architects
Historical Architect
Easton, Maryland

WSP Flack + Kurtz
Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing
New York, New York

Tillotson Design Associates
Lighting Design
New York, New York

Barker Langham
Interpretive Planning, Business Planning
London, United Kingdom

Menokin Foundation Advisory Council

David G. Woodcock, Chair
College Station, Texas
Texas A&M University
Architecture Department Chair (Retired)

Reid Freeman
AIA, Principal
REID architecture PLLC
Brooklyn, NY

Richard B. Garlock
New York, New York
Leslie E. Robertson Associates RLLP
Senior Associate & Structural Engineer

Lucy Lawliss
Fredericksburg, Virginia
National Park Service
Superintendent, Fredericksburg and
Spotsylvania National Military Park

Calder Loth
Richmond, Virginia
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Senior Architectural Historian (Retired)

Eryl P. Wentworth
Washington, D.C.
American Institute for Conservation
Executive Director

Matt Webster
Williamsburg, Virginia
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Architectural Conservator and
Manager of Architectural Collections

James Zehmer
Charlottesville, Virginia
University of Virginia
Historic Preservation Project Manager

Tayloe Murphy and Jorge Silvetti pause on the grand staircase at the Octagon House in Washington, DC. This house, built by John Tayloe III, is a sister house to Menokin, which was also owned and occupied by Tayloe during the 19th-century.