The survival of these panels is part mystery, part design miracle. Zuber manufactured Les Zones Terrestres until 1939, when the Nazis occupied Alsace, home to the company’s factory. It’s believed that German soldiers burned the woodblocks for firewood. As a result, few complete sets remain. For Zuber, the last firm still making scenic, rare wallpaper by hand from 19th-century woodblocks, the loss was acute. According to Christie’s, where a similar set was auctioned in 2003, Les Zones Terrestres was “by far the most detailed and elaborate scenic wallpaper ever designed and printed by the firm.”
The Mellons’ set arrived in a fragile state: tears, losses, water staining. Accordingly, the partners traveled to Paris to study an early-20th-century example of Les Zones Terrestres at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. “The whole point is to restore these in a manner that looks original,” says Nalewaja, who has worked as a master paperhanger for thirty years.
Back in New York, Brittany Burggraff, a restoration artist and member of the Scenic Wallpaper team, did the slow work of stabilizing the paper with muslin and liner, correcting the staining, matching the colors, and in-painting details. The team mounted each panel—measuring approximately 21 inches wide and about 84 inches high—onto archival boards and trimmed the edges with blue ribbon sourced in Japan.
Three months later, the restoration is nearly complete and ready to be returned to the Mellon family, who will decide on final placement. For Francis and Nalewaja, the project represents a thread connecting the past to the present.
