President Lincoln’s Cottage and Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center Historic Renovation

The President Lincoln and Soldier’s Home National Monument encompasses several structures on a 2.3-acre parcel of land, with the centerpiece as a Gothic Revival style cottage, known as Lincoln Cottage. President Lincoln and his family occupied the cottage, and possibly other quarters, seasonally over three years. The National Monument also includes the 1905 Beaux Arts style new Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center.

The project team restored the buildings’ interiors and surrounding landscape to a level suitable for public visitation and educational functions. The cottage restoration involved a painstaking return of the two-story, 34-room brick and stucco house to its 1860s condition and included all new mechanical and electrical systems, plaster conservation, lead paint abatement, and detailed finish carpentry.

The Visitor Education Center received a complete mechanical and electrical retrofit upgrade, new fire alarm and fire suppression systems, and restoration to existing plaster walls, ornamental cornice ceilings, and finishes. Existing vaults were removed to utilize the space more efficiently, audio/video systems and museum exhibits were installed to enhance the visitor’s experience, including a temperature and humidity controlled special exhibits room for precious documents such as an original copy of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.