Tag Archives: National Register of Historic Places

169 Main St., Church on the Hill – 1805

169 Main St., Church on the Hill - 1805
169 Main St., Church on the Hill – 1805

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Federal style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and is intact. It has a three-bay center entrance; six bays deep; wood frame; front gable roof w/dentiled pediment; bell-tower at front of gable peak with a tall, square, balustraded base with large clocks on front and rear sides (clock replaced in 1899). It has Palladian window on left (West) side, topped by an octagonal belfry with Roman-arched vented openings and smaller balustrade and an octagonal cupola with bell-shaped roof and weather vane atop it. It has wood clapboard siding; corner pilasters; 1-bay wide. The entrance pavilion is one-bay deep with dentiled pediment, corner pilasters; Palladian window with tracery, door surround with pediment (short returns), modillions, entablature, paneled pilasters. It has double front entrance doors, wood paneled w/small window high up on each. The two-story square apse on rear facade has a rose window. There is a brick right side wall chimney and an exposed brick left side wall chimney. There are 12-over-12 windows with molded window headers and authentic window blinds. The foundation is large cut stone.

Architect Captain Isaac Damon (1783 – 1862)

Following FROM: http://nhsteeples.org/newport/project_glossary/isaac_damon.html

 

Isaac Damon, architect

 

Isaac Damon was born in 1781. At age 30, he moved from Weymouth (MA) to Northampton (MA). His wife died the following year, and he married Sophia Strong (pictured), who delivered eight children.  Over the course of his career, Damon built at least 13 churches, 14 other buildings, and 25 bridges. Most of his buildings were constructed in the Connecticut River Valley, but his bridge work took him farther afield.  His fully-enclosed bell towers and steeples are easily recognized throughout his region of influence. He retired in 1852 at the age of 71 and died ten years later.

 

Following From: Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) by Henry F. Withey, AIA & Elsie Rathburn Withey. (Los Angeles, CA: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970).

“Damon, (Captain) Isaac

“Architect-building in western Massachusetts for more than three decades, his work included a number of public buildings, mainly churches. It is believed that Damon was one of the junior draftsmen in the Town & Davis office in New York, and when in 1811 he was called to Northampton to build the First Congregational Church, it seems probable that Ithiel Town helped prepare the plans (*). The church, one of the largest and most elaborate in New England at the time of its erection stood until 1878 when it was destroyed by fire. In Northampton Mr. Damon also designed the Town Hall built in 1823 (*).

“In the course of years he executed many important commissions, and the drawings, some of them in India ink, showed skill in draftsmanship. In his work as builder he was one of the first to understand the use of a truss and incorporated it in the bridgework of a number of buildings. Thirteen or more churches in the western part of the state are ascribed to him among which should be named the First Church at Lenox, dating from 1814; the First Church at Springfield, 1818 (**); the old Meeting House at Ware, 1820 (**), and the Unitarian Meeting House at Greenfield. In addition he was architect of the county Court House at Lenox (an early building from 1814); and probably designed (at least he was paid for making the plans) the oldest group of buildings at Amherst College, including the North and South halls and the Chapel between 1821 and 1827 (***).

“- References: Dictionary of American Biography; “Town and Davis, Architects,” by Roger Hale Newton (*); “Greek Revival Architecture in America,” Talbot Hamlin, 1944 (***).”

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE  

In 1803, a special town meeting was called in Lenox, and it was voted to begin construction of a new church to replace the meeting house which had been built about 1770. The new church was to be built on or near the same site. The church was completed in 1805, and on the first day of 1806 it was dedicated in a service led by Rev. Samuel Shepard. As the official town and state church it held an important place in the political and social, as well as religious life, of Lenox. Although other churches were incorporated in the early nineteenth century, and their members exempted from paying taxes to support the Congregational Church, this church was not disestablished until 1834, and even then it retained its important position in the town.

“The Church on the Hill,” as it came to be known, was prized by visitors to Lenox for its picturesque beauty and its embodiment of New England tradition. Guide books never failed to mention it, and its white steeple became a landmark visible for miles around. Even the wealthy summer residents who belonged to the Episcopalian Church took a special interest in the Church on the Hill, and contributed to its restoration.

The Church on the Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places Sept. 30, 1982.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Church records

“The Church on the Lenox Hilltop…”, New England Magazine. October 1900

Lenox – Massachusetts Shire Town. David H. Wood 1969

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

 

27 Housatonic St., First County Courthouse – 1791

New location Lenox Courthouse

27 Housatonic St., First County Courthouse - 1791
27 Housatonic St., First County Courthouse – 1791

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This undetermined style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It is a wood frame building with small dentils along molded cornice; hipped roof; 3-bays facing Housatonic St. façade at 2nd floor and a rear wall chimney on North side.

This square, two story building has a hipped-roof with square cupola, and is similar in plan to early New England meeting houses. Store fronts and additions were built on in the nineteenth century, and most of the original detailing has been removed or obscured, but the original building is still recognizable from the description in the Tucker manuscript:

“It was of wood, constructed for the courts only. The entrance was from the west, through double doors around which was some carving, and over it a fanlight window. Their (sic) were lobbies on either side of the door, 15 feet in length and 8 feet in width, for jury rooms. The ceiling of the courtroom was arched, and it comprised what is now both stories of the building… In each of the windows there were 24 lights of glass, 10 x 12. The specifications called for a cupola with a spire and vane.”

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Built in 1791, this building originally stood just west of the present Town Hall. This was the first County Courthouse, built several years after the county seat was moved from Great Barrington to Lenox in 1784. When the new County Courthouse was built in 1815 (now the Lenox Library) this building became the Town Hall and Post Office, and remained in that capacity throughout the 19th century. In 1901 the present Town Hall was built, and this structure was moved two years later to its current location by Thomas Post. George Therner purchased it shortly thereafter for use as a business block and apartments.

The property was purchased by Fares A. Khoury on April 5, 1972 and then by Jean Kelly Troiano on October 31, 2007.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

1905 and 1911 Sanborn Maps

Lenox, Massachusetts Shire Town. David Wood, 1969. P. 118

Town records

Lenox Assessor’s database 2011

65 Main St., Lenox Academy – c.1802

65 Main St., Lenox Academy - c. 1802
65 Main St., Lenox Academy – c. 1802

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Federal style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and is intact. It has a five-bay center entrance; wood frame; hipped roof; and an octagonal cupola with a spire atop a tall square base. It has wood clapboard siding with a dentil band at the cornice. It has very light paneled corner boards, Palladian window on the second floor. The front façade is centered above the front entry with brackets below the sill and a dentiled cornice. The door surround has an entablature having metopes and triglyphs, and a gable above with modillions, fluted pilasters and 2/3rds-length 10-pane sidelights. There are intact 6-over-6 windows; authentic window blinds; and a large dressed stone foundation

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

On January 5, 1803, a group of twenty-five Lenox citizens petitioned the State Legislature to grant an incorporation to their group for the purpose of establishing an Academy. They were incorporated February 22, 1803 as “The Berkshire Academy,” the name being changed to the Lenox Academy in June of that year. The Academy flourished throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, and had a number of illustrious headmasters and students including John Hotchkiss, Josiah Lyman, Mark Hopkins and Charles Sedgwick. The Academy closed in 1866, serving as a public high school from 1869 until 1879. In 1879, under the direction of Judge Julius Rockwell, the building was moved to a new foundation and repaired, reopening the following year under principal Harlan H. Ballard. In 1886 the building was again put to use as a public high school, serving in that capacity until 1908. The Academy was incorporated as a private school, the Trinity School, in 1911 and remained in operation as such until the 1920’s.

After a period of vacancy and the threat of demolition, the decision was made at a special town meeting to preserve the building, and in 1947 the trustees of the Academy turned the building over to the town. Since that time it has served as office and meeting space for various public groups including the Girl Scouts, the Lenox Garden Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Lenox Historical Commission.

Listed on National Register of Historic Places, September 30, 1982

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Old Form B

Town of Lenox Assessor’s Map

Lenox Academy records 1803-1947 (manuscript in collection of Lenox Library)

Berkshire County Historical Society Survey form – D.S. Smith, October 1972

“Saving of Lenox Academy,” Berkshire Eagle, October 25, 1946

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

18 Main St., Second County Court House – 1815

28 Main St., Second County Courthouse
28 Main St., Second County Courthouse

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Federal/Neo-Classical style building has two stories, a metal roof and is intact. It has a three-bay, center entrance and brick construction laid up in Flemish bond. It has a hipped roof with a balustrade in alternating paneled and geometric railing sections. The entablature is topped by a pediment with modillions and a tall cylindrical lantern with modillions, supported with eight fluted Doric columns and topped with a spire. Paired Ionic columns support the entablature and flank the central entrance. There are Ionic pilasters at the outer edges of the front façade. A shallow ell projects from the left side with a cross-hipped roof. There are brick chimneys – four side wall, right and one side wall, left. The door surround has a segmentally arched transom, 2/3rds-length sidelights with panels below; original or early or early wood paneled front door. There are blind archways with windows in outer bays of the front façade. The building is eight bays deep with intact 6-over-6 windows, limestone lintels, flared headers, (cylindrical metal fire-stop shade holders attached), and authentic wood paneled shutters.

1893 Sanborn Map labels bldg as follows: “Bank” in right front section, “Library” in left front section, “Stage & Scenery” in rear, “Hall – 2nd [floor],” & rear addition as “Assembly Hall”.

Architect Captain Isaac Damon (1783 – 1862)

Following FROM: http://nhsteeples.org/newport/project_glossary/isaac_damon.html

Isaac Damon, architect

 

Isaac Damon was born in 1781. At age 30, he moved from Weymouth (MA) to Northampton (MA). His wife died the following year, and he married Sophia Strong (pictured), who delivered eight children.  Over the course of his career, Damon built at least 13 churches, 14 other buildings, and 25 bridges. Most of his buildings were constructed in the Connecticut River Valley, but his bridge work took him farther afield.  His fully-enclosed bell towers and steeples are easily recognized throughout his region of influence. He retired in 1852 at the age of 71 and died ten years later.

 

Following From: Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) by Henry F. Withey, AIA & Elsie Rathburn Withey. (Los Angeles, CA: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970).

“Damon, (Captain) Isaac

“Architect-building in western Massachusetts for more than three decades, his work included a number of public buildings, mainly churches. It is believed that Damon was one of the junior draftsmen in the Town & Davis office in New York, and when in 1811 he was called to Northampton to build the First Congregational Church, it seems probable that Ithiel Town helped prepare the plans (*). The church, one of the largest and most elaborate in New England at the time of its erection stood until 1878 when it was destroyed by fire. In Northampton Mr. Damon also designed the Town Hall built in 1823 (*).

“In the course of years he executed many important commissions, and the drawings, some of them in India ink, showed skill in draftsmanship. In his work as builder he was one of the first to understand the use of a truss and incorporated it in the bridgework of a number of buildings. Thirteen or more churches in the western part of the state are ascribed to him among which should be named the First Church at Lenox, dating from 1814; the First Church at Springfield, 1818 (**); the old Meeting House at Ware, 1820 (**), and the Unitarian Meeting House at Greenfield. In addition he was architect of the county Court House at Lenox (an early building from 1814); and probably designed (at least he was paid for making the plans) the oldest group of buildings at Amherst College, including the North and South halls and the Chapel between 1821 and 1827 (***).

“- References: Dictionary of American Biography; “Town and Davis, Architects,” by Roger Hale Newton (*); “Greek Revival Architecture in America,” Talbot Hamlin, 1944 (***).”

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Built in 1815, this was Lenox’s Second County Courthouse. The First Courthouse, a wooden structure built shortly after Lenox became the county seat in 1787, was not large enough to adequately serve the needs of the county court. The new Courthouse was a far more imposing structure, costing the county $26,059, a substantial sum in 1815. The Courthouse quickly became a landmark, and came to symbolize Lenox’s position of prominence in the region.

When the county seat moved to Pittsfield in 1868, this building was vacated, and its fate uncertain. Mrs. Adeline Schermerhorn, a long-time summer resident of Lenox, heard about the impending auction of the building at her winter residence in Rome, and commissioned Judge Julius Rockwell to secure the property to be held in trust for the people of Lenox as a free public library. Mrs. Schermerhorn died before the deed could be executed, but her children carried out her wishes, and conveyed the property to the five trustees named by their mother. At her request the building was named the Charles Sedgwick Library, after the popular Clerk of the Courts and citizen of Lenox. The library was dedicated in January of 1874. The rooms formerly occupied by the probate court were leased to the selectmen as town offices. The Lenox Library Association, which had been formed in 1797 and originally housed in the First County Courthouse, decided to move from its 1856 brick building (on the present site of the Congregational Chapel) and consolidate its collection with the Sedgwick Library. Currently serves as the Lenox Library. 

Listed on National Register of Historic Places April 3, 1973

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Old Form B

Town Assessor’s Report

Lenox Library, John H.P. Gould and Irene M. Poirier, 1948

Interview with Mrs. Linstead, Librarian, 1978

David Merrill, “Issac Damon and the Southwick Column Papers,” Old Time New England, Vol. LIV, No. 2, Fall 1963, pp. 48-58

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

88 Walker St., Trinity Episcopal Church 1885-1888

 

88 Walker St., Trinity Episcopal Church - 1885-1888
88 Walker St., Trinity Episcopal Church – 1885-1888

From Form B’s Completed by Lenox Historical Commission 2012-2013

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Romanesque style building has two stories, a red slate roof and is intact. It has asymmetrically organized facades with an irregular footprint. The main section (nave & narthex) has a 3-bay wide front & is 6 bays deep. The masonry construction of rockfaced dolomite is laid up in a random pattern with brownstone used for trim. The gable roof (45′ to peak) with parapet walls at the gable ends covers the nave and narthex sections. There is clay tile roofing throughout. The 3-story square tower located Left (North) and forward of nave has a dentiled band at the cornice, Roman-arch openings in the belfry with bulbous metal balconettes at each, and a hipped roof with a grey slate band and an elaborately trimmed oculus on each side. It is capped by a copper tip and cross. The tower is connected to main church by a porte-cochere with a gable roof and Roman-arched opening. There are Roman-arched stained glass windows and a large Tiffany rose window in the gable peak of the front (West) façade. The polygonal narthex with a hipped roof on the East facade has double windows (stained glass & plain). There is an exposed stone false chimney on Right side, South East corner that surrounds a Roman-arched window. A cross gabled transept (chapel) extends to the North from the nave with rear cross-gabled extensions house the choir room; a shallow gable-fronted entrance, with paired Roman-arched windows, extends from the South West corner of the narthex. OBJECTS: a naturalistic rock monument with a bronze plaque, “The ‘Gramps’ Howland Field” 1961” (contribution); an obelisk signpost at the corner with directional arrows, poem & sundial c.1910 (contribution).

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, February 26, 1996. National Register nomination correctly places the church in the Romanesque style category. The building designed by Charles Follen McKim (McKim, Mead & White) was commissioned by Trinity Church. McKim’s designs went through four sets of revisions followed by a fifth set, modified by Col. Auchmuty with the help of James Renwick (Renwick, Auchmuty & Sand). This process took four years and the final plan implemented was called the “porch plan”, which survived only in Auchmuty’s report, unlike McKim’s four plans, which are preserved in the Parish records. Auchmuty’s additions and changes included the change of the porch entrance into a narthex for inclement weather, the large rose window in the west gable peak, the use of local rockface bluestone in place of fieldstone, and the removal of irregular string courses and dilapidated buttresses. Auchmuty was in charge of constructing the building, raised the funds, and was the largest contributor. Thus, a memorial plaque names him as the architect of the church.

The cornerstone was laid in 1885 by Reverend Justin Field, assisted by the former US President, Chester A. Arthur.

Many other noted craftsmen worked on various parts of the church , such as Tffany and Co. which created many of the original windows; William Brockelsdy of Hartford who designed the chancel; and Bartlett Bros. who laid the main roof.

In June of 1888, the congregation moved from its original site on Church Street to the new Trinity Church at the intersection of Walker and Kemball Streets. The consecration was performed by Bishop Paddock of Massachusetts and Bishop Potter of New York, with the choir from the Church of the Advent in Boston, the Rector, Reverend Justin Field, and the congregation (largely made up of summer residents who had donated generously to the construction of the church). The old church was memorialized in the new by relocation of memorial plaques and reuse of the pews.

In 1899, there was a choir Room and Sacristy added to the church. It was donated as a memorial to Sarah L. Lawrence, daughter of Charles and Sarah Lanier, who had donated much to the construction of the church as well.

Trinity Church had a congregation drawn primarily from the wealthy summer residents of Lenox, and this building was funded by them. The list of donors reads like a “Who’s Who of 1888”. Included are the Misses Appleton, R.T. and Mrs. Auchmuty, J.S. Barnes, D.W. Bishop, Mrs. Biddle, Miss Biddle, W.H. Bradford, H.W. Braem, Mrs. Ellison, Mrs. Flint, George W. Folsom, C. Field, the Misses Furness, R. Goodman, Mrs. Green, Mrs. C.G. Haven, Miss E.S. Jones, Mrs J.I. Kane, A.C. Kingsland, Mrs. Kneeland, George Kneeland, Mrs Kuhn, C. Lanier, Miss Mason, Mrs. W.B. Ogden, R.S. Oliver, J.E. Parsons, Mrs. Edward Parsons, Miss Parish, Mrs. M.O. Roberts, W.R. Robeson, J.O. Sergeant, Mrs. W.D. Sloane, Mrs. R.G. Shaw, Mrs. I.F. Schenck, Miss Taintor, John Thompson, and R.C. Winthrop, Jr..

Trinity Church, thanks to its illustrious congregation, acquired a reputation outside of Lenox and the Berkshires. A 1900 article in the New England Magazine stated that, “the church is visited by pilgrims from far and wide; for few cities can boast churches of greater beauty”. The same article offers another reason for trinity Church becoming a stop on a sightseeing tour; “At the Lenox Episcopal Church in the summer one can see more wealth represented than in any other church in the land, lest it be Trinity in Newport”. Trinity Church also had a stable year-round congregation, and even after the wealthy cottagers stopped coming to Lenox the congregation remained active in the community.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Trinity Church, Lenox. John Allen Gable, 1966.

Assessor’s records.

New England Magazine, October 1900. Vol. 23, pp. 192-211

National Register of Historic Places, February 26, 1996.

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

first trinity_NEW
Drawing of Original Trinity Church on Church St. Lenox from David Woods “Lenox Massachusetts Shiretown.”
27 Church St., First Episcopal Church - c. 1816
27 Church St., First Episcopal Church – c. 1816
88 Walker St., Trinity Episcopal Church Parish House - 1896
88 Walker St., Trinity Episcopal Church Parish House – 1896

More Information on Trinity Chapel

88 Walker St., Trinity Episcopal Rectory
88 Walker St., Trinity Episcopal Rectory

More Information on Trinity Rectory