Human activity including migrations, individual people, families and the institutions they formed in Lenox. Geography, historic sites and homes in Lenox.
This is a fine example of the Queen Anne style, and displays the eclectic decorative elements characteristic of the style. The cut shingles and half-timbering provide surface interest, while the varied window shapes are another decorative feature. This is perhaps an unusually ornate residence for a Congregational minister, but it reflects the prosperity of Lenox at the time of its construction.
This Queen Anne style building has two stories, a slate roof and is intact. It is a two bay, wood frame house with a cross-gable roof. There is a gable dormer on the front and gabled wall dormers on the left and right sides. There is a Palladian attic window in each dormer and the cladding is wood clapboard and decorative shingle.
The organization is asymmetrical and there is an irregular footprint. The enclosed front porch is glazed with turned posts and a gable feature over the entry. There is a two-story box bay on the front facade to the right of the entry with sunburst decoration on corner brackets supporting a gable roof overhang.
There is a two-story faceted bay window on the right side. A right-side porch extends from the bay window and has a hipped roof, slender Doric columns and spindled balustrades. There are 2-over-1 and 2-o-2 windows and a stone foundation
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
This house stands on the site of the original Congregational parsonage, a brick building dating from 1852. By the 1890’s it had fallen into disrepair and the congregation elected to build a new house on the same site.
According to a turn-of-the-century magazine article, “Few Congregational Churches in Massachusetts have so fine a home for their ministers”. This reflects the prosperity of Lenox during this period.
This house was used as a parsonage until 1925, when the Congregational Church was given the Worthington House on Cliffwood Street which became the home of the minister. For many years it was the home of Edith O. Fitch, a long-time Lenox Librarian. The old parsonage was acquired by the Toole family and then in 1978 by the Biancolo family. It has since been used as a private residence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Church records.
New England Magazine, “The Church on the Lenox Hilltop and Round About It” by Frederick Lynch. October 1990.
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Queen Anne style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been minimally altered. It has a three-bay, center entrance; wood frame; hipped roof; hipped dormer on the right side; and a brick end-wall chimney on the left side. It has a full front porch with six Doric columns, spindled balusters. There is a three-story faceted bay window with a hipped roof left of the center entrance and a two-story faceted bay window with a hipped roof to the right of the entrance. It has Queen Anne-style windows with small square lights surrounding a large one. The two hipped roof pavilions on the right side of the house have an enclosed/ glazed balcony between them. Below this balcony, a previous open porch was altered and enclosed after 1939 (per Sanborn Map).
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
The initial structure was built as a rectory for the original St. Ann’s (1871), and used as such until 1912, when Father Grace moved into The Willows, which had been purchased by the church in 1905. After that, the house was sold and converted to use as a funeral home. Later it was once again converted for church use.
First depicted on 1893 and 1939 Sanborn Maps
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
1893 Sanborn Map
Historical Sketch – Centenary of St. Ann’s Church, Lenox, Massachusetts 1870-1970.
Old St. Ann’s132 Main St., St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church – 1911
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Norman Gothic Revival style building has one plus stories, a slate roof and is intact. It has a front gable roof with graduated slate shingles, and parapets on gable ends. There is a Greek Cross at the front peak. The church has fieldstone cladding, cast stone trim which is also known as “Case Cement”, a three-bay front façade with center entrance over which is a large rose window. There are four bas relief plaques depicting evangelists Mathew, Mark, Luke and John surrounding the rose window. There are arched oak double doors with elaborate decorative wrought iron strap hinges. They have Roman-arched door surrounds that are heavily carved with geometric and curvilinear designs springing from engaged columns. A crenellated square tower extends to the right of the front facade and incorporates a porte-cochere with gargoyles at corners. There are lancet windows with slate louvers at the belfry level. There are five-bay side elevations defined by buttresses with Tudor-arched stained glass windows between. There are projecting entrance bays on both the left and right sides proximate to the rear. There are lantern light fixtures in the yard.
Architect Francis Burrall Hoffman,
undated (c.1980) uncited obituary from newspaper:
LENOX – Francis Burrall Hoffman, 98, former summer resident here who was the architect of the present St. Ann’s Church, died last Thursday at his home in Hobe Sound, Fla.
Born in New Orleans, La., March 6, 1882, he was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hoffman. He spent most of his life in New York City, where he was a professional architect. While a summer resident here, he designed the granite St. Ann’s Church structure that was built in 1912 to replace the former wooden church on Main Street.
He was a 1903 graduate of Harvard. During World War I, he served with the 42nd Infantry Division in France.
He leaves two brothers, Albert Hoffman of Florida and Murray Hoffman of New York City.
A funeral mass was held Saturday at St. Christopher’s Church in Hobe Sound. Burial will be in St. Ann’s Cemetery tomorrow at 10 a.m. The Roche Funeral Home is in charge of local arrangements.
Following FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Burrall_Hoffman
Francis Burrall Hoffman (March 6, 1882 – November 27, 1980) was an American born architect best known for his work with James Deering’s Villa Vizcaya in Miami, Florida.
Francis Burrall Hoffman
Biography
Francis Burrall Hoffman ( March 6, 1882 in New Orleans, Louisiana – November 27, 1980 in Hobe Sound, Florida) was an American born architect best known for his work with James Deering’s Villa Vizcaya in Miami, Florida.
Francis Burrall Hoffman, Jr. was born to a wealthy and socially prominent New York family line that began with the emigration of Martin Hermanzen Hoffman from Sweden in 1657. The family remained closely tied to the history and politics of the state, with Hoffman’s great-grandfather, Murray Hoffman serving as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New York and his grandfather, Wickham Hoffman acting as the United States Minister to Denmark from 1883-93.[1][2]
In 1912, Hoffman was hired by James Deering as an associate architect for Villa Vizcaya. Collaborating with Paul Chalfin and Diego Suarez, the bayfront Italian style villa would become the largest and most notable project of his sixty year career.
Hoffman left the Villa Vizcaya project five years later in 1917 to enlist in the Army. During WWI, Hoffman served as Captain with the Corps of Engineers and later directed camouflage operations with the Second Corps, A.E.F. During WWII, Hoffman served overseas as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy[4].
In 1927, Hoffman married Virginia “Dolly” Kimball. Kimball was from a wealthy Virginia publishing family and quickly established a career as an interior decorator, and was often enlisted in the design of her husband’s projects. After the stock market crash in 1929, Hoffman closed up his firm in New York and he and Dolly spent a majority of their time traveling between New York and Paris. Upon his returns to New York, Hoffman rarely engaged in more than one architectural project a year [5][6].
Hoffman completed many commissions, mostly designing large houses for wealthy clients. Hoffman’s last project was completed in 1974, when he was nearly ninety-eight years old . Hoffman died in 1980 in Hobe Sound, Florida[7].
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
Lenox was organized as a mission of the Roman Catholic Church in 1852. Mass was said in Town Hall until 1871, when Father Brennan led his parish to build the first St. Ann’s Church. The parish included some influential members of Lenox society; Rose Hawthorne (daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne), who was born in Lenox in 1851 and was a convert to Catholicism, Grace Sedgwick, a member of the locally prominent Sedgwick family, and Mrs. Samuel Ward, both converts to Catholicism. Mrs. Ward’s husband built a chapel for her at his estate, Oakwood, and Mass was often said at that location.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Old Form B
Historical Sketch- Centenary of St. Ann’s Church – Lenox, Massachusetts 1870-1970
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Queen Anne style building has two stories, a slate roof and has been altered. It has a three-bay, center entrance that is wood framed. It has a gable roof, double bracketed eaves and two shed-roofed dormers with 18-light windows on the front over outer bays. There is a one gable-roofed rear wall dormer, a brick endwall chimney on the left side. The exterior is wood clapboard (1st fl.) and decorative shingle (2nd fl. and dormers) siding. There is a two-story front entrance pavilion with modillions. There is a Palladian window on the second floor with tracery in the center, an arched window, embellished with entablature complete with a dentiled cornice, and pilasters flanking smaller side windows. Modillions and six turned posts remain from the original porch. There are large Queen Anne-style 29-over-1 multi-pane sash windows that flank the pavilion on the second (small square lights in the upper sash). There are 15-light French windows on the side of the pavilion and a one-story box bay window on the right side. There is a one-story rear lean-to; original double front doors; and a stone foundation.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
John M. Cook*, identified in an 1885 directory as a farmer and manager for E.J. Woolsey, purchased this lot from Elizabeth Bangs* in 1883 and built this house soon after. Cook resided here for a year or two, but by 1886 the house was rented out to Ambrose Kingsland of New York, and was thereafter rented to “distinguished summer visitors.”[1] In 1905 it was purchased by Father William F. Grace, acting on behalf of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield, for use as a rectory for St. Ann’s. The Willows continued to be rented out until 1912, when the new church had been built and Father Grace took formal possession. It was used as a rectory until it was sold and converted to a funeral home currently owned by Edward J. Roche.
*”Henry Cook” on 1854 Clark Map; “C. Bangs” on 1876 Beers Map
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
1854 Clark Map, 1876 Beers Map
Old Form B
Town Assessor’s Report
Lenox Assessor’s database 2012
[1] Historical Sketch – Centenary of St. Ann’s Church, Lenox, Massachusetts 1870-1970
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Federal style building has two stories, a standing-seam metal roof and has been significantly altered. There is a five-bay, center entrance. It is wood frame; gable roof with two early gabled dormers; brick endwall chimneys, one each side. The house has wood clapboard siding; Roman-arched attic and dormer windows. There is a door surround with arched transom and 2/3rds-length sidelights; large two-story rear ell with expanded and an enclosed porch on the right side. The 1893 Sanborn Map depicts an articulated front porch extending nearly the full width of the house as well as a rear porch.
There is a large two-story addition off the original rear ell added by 1939 and a front entrance porch with slender Doric columns, c.1950. There are stone and concrete foundations; a wood picket fence around the front and side yards with large yard with open lawn areas, mature trees and shrubs, and stone sculpture.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
This house appears to have been built as a farmhouse by the Cook family (Labeled “Henry Cook” on 1854 Clark Map).
Richard Sands Tucker of Brooklyn, N.Y. purchased the property in 1866, and resided here with his wife Margaret. After his death in the 1880’s his widow rented out the house for several years, and then sold it to Henry Sedgewick.
Caroline Katherine Carey (Miss Kate Carey) purchased the property in 1928 and established a Lenox brand of the Berkshire County Home for Aged Women. Common name was Meadow Place.
Since 1992 the home has been owned by Nathan B. Winstanley and used for offices for his firm.
84 Main St., Julius Parson’s Meat Market – c. 1881
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
