This week’s artifact was a part of a spectacular piece of woodwork.

It graced the gables of the old administration building on the chapel green amid trees, bushes, and flowers. Prior to Principia’s ownership of the land, the building was the guesthouse on the old Notchcliff estate, which extended from the old gatehouse ruin in Elsah to Elliston.

For the first many years, the college administrators had their offices in this guesthouse-turned admin building. Eventually, though expansion and modernization were necessary, the building came down.

This Bargeboard, the carved ornamentation designed to convey vines and grape clusters, was donated to the college during the demolition of the building around 1964 by Helen Sprague (US 1943, CO 1947) as her father was conducting the demolition work.

The rescued piece of Bargeboard, painted white according to the custom, now resides over the door to the archives office in the library.