ATHENS, Ga. - History buffs who have waited years for the antebellum T.R.R. Cobb House to be restored near its original Prince Avenue location might be in for a surprise.

Actually, the house was originally salmon-colored, but "it's going to come across to the world as pink," said Curtis Whitsel, the owner of Whitsel Construction. The company moved the house from Stone Mountain to Athens last year and is now restoring it to its original appearance.

"It's going to be a little bit of a shock to people," Mr. Whitsel said.

Architects and historic preservation specialists are working to "unravel the mystery of the original finishes" at the house, which was built in the 1830s, he said.

In a house that's more than 150 years old, architects face a forensic challenge to understand the original interior decorating.

Experts are sifting through the famed lawyer and Civil War general's papers at the University of Georgia, looking at other antebellum homes and examining the house itself to determine what it actually looked like, said Tad Brown, the president of the Watson-Brown Foundation.

Watson-Brown, a Thomson-based nonprofit group dedicated to preserving Southern history, is funding and overseeing the project after dissolving a partnership with the Athens Heritage Foundation. Mr. Brown and Mr. Whitsel are rebuilding the house near the corner of Hill and Pope streets, near the old Clarke County Jail.

"It's very, very complicated," Mr. Brown said with a laugh. "There is some evidence, but unfortunately, it's not as complete as we would like it to be."

One thing examiners discovered is that the house was not white, the way it appears today. In 1860, the date restorers want the house to reflect, chemical analysis of paint shows the house was salmon or flesh-colored, Mr. Brown said. Though such a color might be a rarity today, back then, it wasn't unheard of.

"I won't say it's a common color, but it's not the first time I've seen it," Mr. Brown said.

Such dramatic changes in color are not uncommon in this era of advanced technology, said Amy Kissane, the executive director of the Athens Heritage Foundation.

Much of the interior of Mount Vernon, George Washington's Virginia home, was recently painted a historically accurate lime green, Ms. Kissane said.

"There are a lot of assumptions about the colors people used, but now that we can go back and document it, people are making a lot of changes," she said.

Mr. Brown is now turning his attention to the house's interior, where he must decide what designs, decorations and details Cobb added in 1860.