Category Archives: Places

84 Main St., Julius Parsons Meat Market – c.1881

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From Surveys Completed 2011-2012

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Italianate style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been significantly altered. There is a one-story, storefront (c.1950 addition), four bays on the second floor and a front façade. The building is wood framed with a flat or shallow shed roof. It has a cornice band and four oversized decorative brackets (one on each end) with smaller scroll sawn brackets between. It has wood shingle siding glass and aluminum framed display windows and door, and a front parapet wall.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This building was originally owned by Julius Parsons, a butcher who operated his meat market from the ground floor and lived with his family upstairs. In 1919 the property was purchased by Walcott Gregory, who opened Gregory’s Market on the premises. The market remained in the Gregory family until 1977. Common names included Gregory’s Market, Cimini’s Market and O’Brien’s Market.

This appears to be one of the few frame commercial buildings to have survived the 1909 fire which destroyed much of Lenox’s business district.

New research suggests the date of the building could be earlier. Building footprint changes are shown between 1854 (Clark Map) and 1876 (Beers Map). The property is labeled “H. Phelps” on the 1876 Beers which matches footprints in later maps, thus an earlier building could have been remodeled to this late 19th century style. The building was converted to a store by 1939 (Sanborn Map) and storefront addition (as noted above) were made after this date.

The property is currently a market and is owned by Daniel W. O’Brien.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES

1854 Clark Map, 1876 Beers Map, 1939 Sanborn Map

Old Form B

Town Assessor’s Report

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

80 Main St., Harriet R. Hickok House – 1835

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80 Main St., Harriet Hickok House - 1835 — 80 Main St., Harriet Hickok House – 1835

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Greek Revival style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been significantly altered. It is a three-bay wood frame. It has a front gable roof–simple pediment, and full entablature with a plain frieze. It has a brick center chimney, wood clapboard siding and paneled corner pilasters. There is a two-story rear ell with a gable roof. The foundation is stone.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

“In 1835 Harriet R. Hicock bought this lot from Caleb Bailey and built this house. In 1858 the house and property was sold to Eunice M. Sears. In April 1887 Theodore J. Cowhig bought the property and built the ice houses in the rear. Teamsters and horses were also part of Mr. Cowhig’s business. He died young and his widow continued the family businesses which included the quarry on Hubbard Street. The property remained in the Cowhig family until 1976, when it was renovated by Mr. Soroken for use as a shop and gallery of pottery and other arts.”

New research notes that on the 1854 Clark Map, the property is labeled “Mrs. Hickok”; the 1893 – 1905 Sanborn maps show building footprint without any front porch but with right-side porches; the 1911 Sanborn depicts a small front entry porch (thus earlier B form statement about the front entrance porch dating to1860s is incorrect) and labels the building “Barbers”.

It was purchased in 2001 by Serge Paccaud and is currently used as a restaurant.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

1854 Clark Map, 1893 – 1905 Sanborn Maps

Old Form B

Town Assessor’s Report

Mr. William Roche

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

74 Main St., William Mahanna Block – 1903

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ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Italianate style building has three stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been minimally altered. The first floor has three-bays and a center entrance. On the upper floors there are five bays. It is brick construction laid up in plain bond with red mortar. It has a flat roof with two tiers of brick corbelling for cornice, above a projecting belt course. There are brick piers at corners and flanking center bay with a projecting belt course between the first and second floors. There is stone banding at second floor window sill level. There are arched window openings on the upper floors with soldier course headers. There are stone window sills on the left side with cast stone window sills on the right side. There are three brick pilasters on the right side and two centered on the left side. There is a recessed center entrance with Roman-arched opening which is flanked by two storefronts, each with recessed entrances between display windows. There are tall, narrow display windows that wrap around the corner–one each side. The center entrance has double doors with one-light windows and paneling below. There is a concrete foundation and a brick-walled courtyard behind the building.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This commercial block was built by William Mahanna, who was also responsible for other commercial structures in Lenox, including the Mahanna Hotel (50 Church Street). In 1909 fire swept through Lenox’s business section destroying most of the wood-frame buildings. The brick Mahanna Block survived, although the interior was gutted by the fire (The Berkshire Eagle, April 12, 1909).

Currently the building is used for stores, offices and apartments and since 1998 has been owned by Bruni Butschek-Beckmann.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

1st depicted on 1905 Sanborn Map

The Berkshire Eagle, April 12, 1909

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

48 Main St., Oliver Peck House – c.1835

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ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Federal style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It has a three-bay center entrance and a pedimented front gable roof with attic fanlight. It is wood frame with wood clapboard siding; pilasters flank the center bay. The corner pilasters have light/refined entablature. The front door is surrounded by a three-light transom and pilasters. The door has a12-light window. The right side entry has a gable header with a sunburst design, dentils, and pilasters. The house has a stone foundation. Farther back on the right side is a small cross-gabled box bay with pedimented side entry; large recessed cross-gabled side ell on left with concrete foundation (added after 1939).

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Oliver Peck, the original owner of this house, was an attorney with the Lenox firm Peck and Phelps. A subsequent owner, Benjamin Rogers, was an employee of George Westinghouse, and was in part responsible for bring electricity to the town. Rogers had his workshop in an annex, later used as a greenhouse. In 1876 Mrs. Platner was the owner, in 1900 it was Francis Weed and in 1904 Benjamin H. Rogers purchased the property. This house caught fire in the Easter fire of 1909, but was saved from destruction. In the 1980’s the house was owned by Dr. Carl Bergan who used space in the house as a medical office and rented out apartments. Currently the building is owned by Charles Schulz and contains a hair salon and retail stores.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

1854 Clark Map,1876 Beers Map

“Wm. C. Curtis & J. D. Curtis” on 1854 Clark Map; Mrs. Justin Curtis & W. O. Curtis on 1876 Beers Map

Conversations with Dr. and Mrs. Carl Bergan

Old Form B

Town Assessor’s Report

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

12 Housatonic St., George C. Haven Cottage – 1881

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From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Gothic Revival/Queen Anne style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been significantly altered. It has a wood frame with wood clapboard siding, a Jerkin-head gable roof and dormer roofs. There are three dormers on the front as well as on the rear. First-story faceted bay windows with panels below, flank the current center entrance. There are curved verge-boards on front gables, some 2-over-2 windows and authentic window blinds. It has stone & brick foundations (partially parged).

This large summer cottage contains a variety of decorative elements, including the clipped gables, scalloped verge boards, and ornamental stick work in the gables. The larger section of the building was probably intended to house the summer guests, while the smaller gable front wing appears to have been designed as a servant’s wing or second rental unit. This was one of two identical cottages situated on Main Street, with the gable end oriented to the street.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Not depicted on 1876 Beers Map. First depicted on the 1893 Sanborn Map.

This was one of two buildings known as the Elm Cottages, built by George G. Haven on Main St., just north of the Lenox Library (Second County Courthouse). The land containing the county jail, jailer’s house, and a county barn, had been sold to Thomas Post, Joseph Tucker, Andrew Servin and Henry Bishop by the “Inhabitants of Berkshire County” in 1871, after the County seat had moved to Pittsfield. Post sold his portion of the lot to George G. Haven in 1881, at which time Haven mortgaged the property for $6,250 and built two large summer cottages. This one was rented to W. C. Schermerhorn, who purchased the house in 1887. In 1910, the building was moved to its present site by Frank C. Hagyard when he built the drugstore at the corner of Main and Housatonic Streets.

The property was purchased by the Baron Realty Trust on February 1, 1988 and by the Jaki Nominee Trust on May 19, 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

1876 Beers Map, 1893, 1898, 1905, 1911 and 1939 Sanborn Maps

Registry of Deeds, Pittsfield, Massachusetts 210, 219, 244.323-5, 268.165

The Book of Berkshire. Clark W. Bryan (N.Y.: Clark W. Bryan & Co., 1886) p. 45

The New Book of Berkshire. Clark W. Bryan (Great Barrington: Clark W. Bryan & Co. 1890)

Lenox and the Berkshire Highlands. R. DeWitt Mallary (N.Y. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1902) p.179

Lenox Assessor’s database 2011

Places

27 Housatonic St., First County Courthouse – 1791

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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 19^th 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

Places

17 Housatonic St., Jacob Washburn House – c.1825

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From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Federal style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It has brick construction laid up in Flemish bond and a front gable roof with eave returns. There is a gabled entrance canopy with large scroll sawn support brackets and pendants in Italianate style (early addition). There is an intact wood front door and large brick front and rear wall chimneys. It has an oval vent at attic level and limestone window lintels. There is a recessed right side ell with cross-gable roof and with a 2nd entry. The foundation is stone, there are 12 over 12 windows and authentic wood blinds on the second floor windows.

This is one of the few brick vernacular houses in Lenox, and one of two to survive from before 1850. It is predominantly a Federal style house, with 12/12 window sash, spalyed (sic) stone lintels and other characteristic features of this style, but the gable-front form of the building is a hallmark of the Greek Revival style, just emerging in the 1820’s. It is possible that this house was influenced by the Classical Revival Second County Courthouse of 1815, which used the temple-front form. This house would have been among the most substantial and fashionable in Lenox in the first three decades of the 19^th century, and reflects the prominent position the Washburn family held.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This was the Washburn homestead, probably build by Jacob Washburn, who married the daughter of Samuel Northrup, an early settler in 1786. Jacob was a prosperous farmer with a large family and it seems likely that he built the house after establishing himself in Lenox. He died at age 62 in 1828, but his wife and children survived him and continued to prosper. His children and grand-children became some of the largest property owners in Lenox. The house remained in the Washburn family through the nineteenth century. Mrs. Thomas Morse was the last Washburn to own it.

Charles T. Schulze has been the owner since November 22, 1983.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

1893 & 1898 Sanborn Maps

Gazetteer of Berkshire County. Hamilton Child, 1885

History of Berkshire County, Mass. Joseph E. A. Smith, 1885

Lenox Assessor’s database 2011

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Charles T. Schulze has been the owner since November 22, 1983.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

1893 & 1898 Sanborn Maps

Gazetteer of Berkshire County. Hamilton Child, 1885

History of Berkshire County, Mass. Joseph E. A. Smith, 1885

Lenox Assessor’s database 2011

Places

73 Main St., James Robbins House – c.1807

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From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Federal style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been minimally altered. There is a five-bay center entrance. It is wood frame and has a hipped roof. There is a brick center chimney and brick side wall chimney on the right side. It has wood clapboard siding; fluted pilasters at corners and a flanking one-story flat-roofed front entry porch with fluted Doric columns and a frieze with metopes and triglyphs. There is a door surround with a fanlight and fluted pilasters. There is a one-story porch off the left side of the house with lattice walls, Roman-arched openings and a stone foundation. There are 2-over-2 windows, authentic window blinds; a two-story rear ell and a two-story, three-bay-wide addition off the right rear corner with hipped roof. There is a brick rear wall chimney, a separate front entrance with a hipped canopy. LANDSCAPE: shrub arbor at entrance to front walkway; lattice screen fence in front of recessed right wing/ell.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

The original owners of this house were James and Maria Robbins. Mrs. Robbins’ maiden name was Egleston, and she was no doubt related to the locally prominent Egleston family whose members included Revolutionary War hero Major Azariah Egleston. The house was sold in 1850 to Ammi Robbins, who retained ownership until 1866. During this period the house was said to be a stop on the underground railroad. The house then passed on to John S. Schanck and Maria Robbins Schanck. In 1902 it passed out of the Robbins family when it was sold to Lydia E. Flint, who subsequently sold it to Louisa Ludlow in 1906. The house was known as the Ludlow Cottage for many years, and remained in the Ludlow family, passing on to Louisa Ludlow’s daughter, Mrs. John L.B. Brooke. In 2001, the house was transferred to her daughter Cornelia Gilder.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Old Form B

Town of Lenox Assessor’s Report

Lenox: Massachusetts Shire Town, David Wood, 1969, p. 196

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

65 Main St., Lenox Academy – c.1802

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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

Places

55 Main St., Congregational Chapel – 1877

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From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Gothic Revival style building has one plus stories, an asphalt shingle roof and is intact. It is two-bay. It has a wood frame; cross-gable roof with exposed rafter ends, and a steeply pitched front gable. It has a stone-clad octagonal bell tower with hipped “witches hat” roof with wood shingles and exposed rafter ends. It has a one-story entrance pavilion that extends along the right side to the rear wing and forward of the main building with a series of six 18-light Tudor-arched windows on the right side, one on the left side with a wood shingled kneewall below. The front door surround has dentils on a slightly peaked header, exposed rafter ends, and a paneled verge board with king post on its narrow front.

There is a brick side wall chimney on the right side at the inside corner of the main and right wing sections. The front facade of the main section has set of three stained glass windows. The left side facade features three paired windows with double gable/peaked headers. The rear cross wing is two bays deep, and has an exposed basement with ground-level access. There is a one-story rear ell at the basement level. A stone retaining wall extends and curves forward from the front rightt corner of the entrance pavilion.

Designed by Pittsfield architect, J. F. Rathbone [Rathbun?]. More research needed to clarify architect information on original Form B. Can’t find record of J. F. Rathbone and Rathbun’s initials are C. T. (Charles T. Rathbun).

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This was originally the site of the Lenox Library which was housed in an octagonal building. The Congregational Society purchased the property after the library moved to the Second County Courthouse building in 1873. Construction of the Chapel was authorized by the Congregational Society in 1876, “in response to a felt need for a center for social activities.” The foundation of the chapel was constructed from the brick and stone of the old library building.

The Chapel was used primarily as a meeting place until the turn of the century, when it was modernized. Following this modernization, the Chapel was used for Sunday services, as the Church on the Hill was inadequately heated and the congregation had become quite small. The Chapel was damaged by fire in 1930 and then restored. In the 1950’s oil heat was installed at the Church on the Hill and services returned to that building. A Church School held in the Chapel had increased its enrollment to the point that it overflowed the building by 1968. The interior of the Chapel was remodeled at this time to accommodate the school activities.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Old Form B

Town Assessor’s Report

The Congregational Chapel, Rev. Harris B. Hinchliff

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012