35 Greenwood St., Newton Wilbur House – c.1860

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35 Greenwood St., Wilbur F. Newton House - c. 1860 — 35 Greenwood St., Wilbur F. Newton House – c. 1860

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This house was originally oriented to the south-southwest and numbered 62 Cliffwood Street. This early front facade clearly expresses the Italianate architectural design of the house, which is a wood-framed, 2-story building with gable roof and a 3-story square hipped-roof tower. Eaves on the gable ends have double scroll sawn brackets—another typical feature of the Italianate style. There is a large brick center chimney and an exposed brick rear wall chimney. To the left of the tower is the original front door. Its surround is round-arched with a fanlight transom and ½-length sidelights with tracery. A broad veranda with nine chamfered pillars, scroll sawn and incised brackets and braces and matching pilasters wraps around to the left (west) side of the house (and once probably continued around to the rear or current front facade). French doors provide access from the first floor to the veranda. A 2-story canted bay window with smaller scroll sawn brackets on both first and second floor eaves fronts the tower. A 2-story ell, with a lower gable roof, extends to the right (east) of the tower and is fronted by another veranda—this time arcaded with two chamfered pillars and details matching those of the left side wrap-around porch. It has a balcony above with millwork railing. At the far end of the right-side ell is an octagonal second story turret with hipped roof above an open porch with geometric frieze above the arcading. On the north facade, which in now treated as the front, a remodeling introduced the Colonial Revival style—thus it is likely to have occurred in the last decades of the 19^th century or early 20^th century. This entry porch has an arched roof supported by two Doric columns; the door has ½-length sidelight like the original front door on the south. It is flanked by French doors, strongly suggesting that the veranda originally wrapped around from the west end to the north side as well. This section of the veranda would have been removed at the time of the remodeling and replaced with the new entrance porch (allowing more light into the interior). Windows are 2-o-2 double hung sashes with molded cornices and authentic window blinds. The foundation is stone. The lot is large with an expanse of open lawn. A stuccoed wall extends from the house eastward along the Greenwood Street right-of-way. It has an arched opening, allowing access to the east side yard.

This house has a side-gabled roof with three pedimented dormers. The cornice has paired decorative brackets off its molding. There are leaded glass fanlights and sidelights on both the doors (facing Cliffwood and Greenwood Streets). The north-facing door is outlined by a decorative crown which is supported by slender columns. The 1886 finial was removed while the crown was being repaired in the 1990’s and is missing. A porch wraps around half the house and detailed spindlework supports have side brackets. There are one exterior and two interior chimneys. The first floor dining and living room windows are French doors. The have crowns with designs in the frieze. The remaining first floor windows and second floor windows are rectangular with crowns above them and molded windowsills below. On the third floor there is a full arched window with a crown; another from the 1886 remodel was removed in 1931. There are first and second story bay windows on the side of the house facing Cliffwood St, which originally had shutters.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

1870-1872 The property is owned by well-known Lenox builder, ensign Loomis, who lived for many years on the other side of Cliffwood St. Loomis probably built the earliest part of the house on speculation

1872-1882 Local businessman Wilbur F. Newton owned the house (on one acre and 40 rods). Newton bought the place from Loomis for $1200 and sold it a decade later to Mrs. Jonathan Williams Biddle of Philadelphia for $10,000. Property values in Lenox escalated as the popularity of the resort grew in the Gilded Age.

1886 Second owner, Emily Meigs Biddle (Mrs. John) added French doors, wrap-around porch and two colonial revival doors added. Original barn removed; garden with fountain and small fish pool created inside the foundation. A stable was added (52 Cliffwood St.) The first floor was expanded to include a butler’s pantry, back stairs, staff dining, lavatory and larger kitchen. Above, on second floor: more bedrooms for staff and a third floor.

1882-1938 The Biddle family came to Breezy Corners each summer over a fifty-year period. In 1885, Mrs. Biddle was in her 60s and her unmarried daughter, Emily W., in her late 20s. Thomas, the bachelor brother of Miss Emily, often summered here as well as his sister, Christine Cadwalader. Christine Biddle Cadwalader had seven sons (her only daughter died at one month in 1887.) Over the years the Biddles enlarged Breezy Corners with a third story tower, embellished the two-man entrances with grand colonial revival doorways. Architect Joseph Vance of Pittsfield is known to have worked on the house. Miss Biddle, one of the founding members of the Lenox Horticultural Society probably created the walled garden. Some of her plantings survive including the mature Japanese lilac on Cliffwood St. She has been described as a “student of bird life” and participated in Tub Parades. Her charming Gabled carriage house was located at the end of the sloping lawn on Cliffwood St. Emily Biddle died in 1931, leaving the house to her Cadwalader nephews who sold it sever years later.

1907 Upon Mrs. Emily Meigs Biddle’s death, daughter Miss Emily W. Biddle inherited the house and enlarged the 3rd floor removing the gabled roof line and single window in small bedroom, and creating a full bath with tub next to new bedroom in a tower with two windows.

1938-1946 Eaton Crane Paper executive Sherman Hall and his wife Lee DeMulder Hall and their three sons made Breezy Corners a year round residence

1946-2008 Martha Quisenberry Pelton Shirer owned Breezy Corners. Carriage house/garage on Cliffwood St sold to become a separate residence in 1947.

2008 to present The property is now owned by Suzanne W. Pelton, Martha Shirer’s daughter, and her husband David Horton Stroud.

The property was first owned by Wilbur F. Newton until 1882 when he sold the property to Emily Meigs Biddle and Emily Williams Biddle. In 1907 Mrs. Biddle left the property to Emily Williams Biddle. In 1931, Emily Williams Biddle left the property divided into six sections to the Cadwalader family. The Bible family was originally from Philadelphia. The family was involved in many Presidential administrations. The Biddle and the Cadwalader families were relatives of many of these men. In 1938, the house was sold to Sherman and Lee Hall. The Halls sold the house in 1948 to Richard and Martha Quisenberry Pelton. The Peltons sold the carriage house which was later converted into a home.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES :

Suzanne Walker Pelton (current owner)

Lenox Town Hall Records

Registry of Deeds, Pittsfield

Martha Quisenberry Pelton Shirer

Places

5 Greenwood St., Hartman Kuhn House – 1870

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From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Society

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Tudor Revival style building has two stories, a wood shakes shingle roof and is intact. It has arched roofed dormers; a stucco front wall chimney on projecting front ell; 3 stone interior chimneys; a small front entrance vestibule with a steeply pitched gable; sets of 3 windows with transoms, some diamond-paned leaded glass windows; early gambrel-roofed extensions; a 1-story conservatory ell with French doors off left (east) side; and a faceted 2nd story oriel on the south side. It is landscaped with many mature trees & shrubs; wood picket fence & row of evergreen trees along Greenwood St. right-of-way and arched arbor at the entrance. There is a stone retaining wall supporting a patio at 1st floor level on rear (south) side of house.

This does not appear to be the original 1820 style building – Tudor Revival style is the result of much more recent renovations in early 1900’s.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Hillside was built by Mrs. Hartman (Grace) Kuhn of Boston in 1870, and used by her during the ‘season’. Mrs. Kuhn, who also purchased Butternut Cottage, owned the entire lot along Main St. from Greenwood to the Kingsland House (at the junction of Main and Cliffwood Streets). By 1890 the house was being rented to Mrs. Cruger of New York, and around 1911 it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Ross Whistler, who renamed it Hidden House. Today it is “Whistler’s Inn” owned by Richard and Joan Mears since 1978.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

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

The New Book of Berkshire, Clark W. Bryan ( N.Y.L Clark W. Bryan & Co., 1890) p. 45

Lenox: Massachusetts Shire Town, David H. Wood (Lenox: Town of Lenox 1969) p.194

Lenox Assessor’s database 2011

Places

13 Cliffwood St., Worthington House – 1815

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13 Cliffwood St., Worthington House - c. 1815 — 13 Cliffwood St., Worthington House – c. 1815

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by Lenox Historical Society

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

This was originally a Federal-style house that has been altered over the years. The paired brackets under the eaves, round-arched window in the front gable, and round-arched door hood are all features of the Italianate style, indicating that a major remodeling took place during the period of that styles popularity (c.1850 – 1880). There are relatively few Italianate houses in Lenox, making this earlier house an interesting example of a later style.

This Italianate style building has two stories and an asphalt shingle roof which is intact. It consists of 3-bays, with a front gable roof with double scroll sawn modillions on the eaves. The two brick center chimneys are corbelled to create flared tops. It is sided with wood clapboards and the arched entrance canopy contains scroll sawn console brackets. The door surround has an arched transom and the window headers have cornices. The windows on the upper floors are 6-o-6. There are authentic window blinds, an arched attic window and a stone foundation. There is a wood picket fence around property.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This house was built in 1815 for Dr. Worthington, who may have practiced medicine here. It remained in the Worthington family until 1919, when the property was willed to the Church on the Hill by Mrs. Mary H. Barrett. Mrs. Barrett was a grand-daughter of the original owner, who had been a deacon of the church. From 1925 to 1975 the house was used as a parsonage and a gathering place for social events. In 1975 it was returned to use as a private home. Robert M. and Cynthia A. Taylor were the owners in 1979.

The property was acquired by Arthur A. Autorino in1989 and then by Thomas B. Sherman in 1997 and then by Steven M. Fortuna in 2001.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Registry of Deeds

Congregational Church Records

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

9 Cliffwood St., Calvin Burnham House – c.1805

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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 is a 5-bay building with a central entrance. The wood framed structure has a 2-story cross-gabled rear ell. One end chimney and one interior chimney suggests that a 2-story addition to the right of the original 3-bay house has been added. It has wood clapboard siding and paneled window headers with cornices on the first floor windows. The exterior has corner boards, an entrance pavilion with fluted Doric columns and pilasters, triglyphs and metopes on the frieze. The front door surround has a plaid paned transom and 1/2-length sidelights. The house has 6-o-6 windows and a stone foundation. There is a wood picket fence with scalloped design between the posts.

This is one of the few Federal houses to survive in Lenox Village; although there is evidence that many more were built, most were demolished in the second half of the nineteenth century.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Calvin Burnham built this house around 1805, and lived here with his family. Burnham was probably a brother of Julia Ann Burnham, who came from Vermont to marry Col. Charles Mattoon of Lenox. Calvin Burnham had numerous business dealings with Mattoon, reflected in various deeds. Burnham’s daughter Anna also has some unusual business dealings; a deed of 1814 granted her the lease to her room in her father’s house in return for payment of one peppercorn. On her father’s death she inherited the house, and in 1822 sold it to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, for payment of $500 “and also in consideration of the love and regard which I have for the missionary cause.” John Hotchkin purchased the house from the A.B.C.F.M. in 1825, two years after he returned to Lenox from the Andover Theological Seminary to follow Levi Glezen as principal of the Lenox Academy. Hotchkin, a graduate of the Academy, held that position until 1848, but continued to teach until his death in 1862. His descendents sold the house to Anna B. Shaw after 1876, and the Shaw family used it as a summer home. It was known as “Homestead” during this period (not to be confused with “The Homestead” at Cliffwood and Greenwood Streets). Later it was renamed “Roadside”, and the name was changed again to “Strawberry House” by a subsequent owner, Anna R. Alexandre.

The property was acquired by Horizon Nominee Trust in1998 and then by Andrew Collins Vickery in 2003 and then by Eric George Haythorne in 2007.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Joseph E.A. Smith, (N.Y.: J.B. Beers & Co. 1885) p.214

New Book of Berkshire, Clark W. Bryan (Clark W. Bryan & Co. 1890) p44

Registry of Deeds, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 55.38, 64.237, 68.159

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

169 Main St., Church on the Hill – 1805

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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 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

Places

142 Main, Thomas Post House – c.1870

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142 Main St., Thomas Post House - c. 1870 — 142 Main St., Thomas Post House – c. 1870

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Gothic Revival style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It has a two-bay; wood frame; front gable roof; large brick center chimney; wood clapboard siding; front entry porch with steeply pitched gable roof with decorative trip in gable supported by four chamfered pillars; balcony above front porch with geometric railing; door surround with two-light transom; double entrance doors. It has a two-story box oriel on front facade (base tapers in from top to bottom). There is a large two-story rear ell with gable roof and interior brick chimney. There is a two-story rear lean-to at inside corner on right side of main house and rear ell. There is a two-story recessed, cross-gabled wing on the left side with shed-roofed porch on front, three turned.

Design is not Stick Style; details cited in original B form are common to both Gothic Revival & Queen Anne styles.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This house was built for Thomas Post, listed in the 1885 directory as lawyer, Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, telegraph operator and farmer. He was also a State Senator and “trusted counselor of all this region.”[1] He owned the entire lot up to Hubbard Street. He was in part responsible for the development of the Maple-Ash-Reynolds Street area, as he sold off his land in house lots in the 1890’s and early 20^th century. Post, who had his law office in the Lenox Library (the second county courthouse), lived there until his death in 1913 when the property was inherited by his widow, Elizabeth.

After subsequent changes in ownership the building was sold to Timothy E. Blair in 1998. It is currently divided into six apartments.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Lenox Assessor’s Report

County Atlas of Berkshire, Mass., F.W. Beers, 1876

Atlas of Berkshire County, Mass., Barnes and Farnham, 1904

Sanborn Maps: 1898, 1905, 1911

Gazetter of Berkshire County, Mass. 1727-1885, Hamilton Child, 1885

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

[1] New England Magazine, “The Church on the Lenox Hilltop and Round About It,” Frederick Lynch, October 1900, vol. 23, p. 210

Places

135 Main St., Eliza Williams House – c.1861

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From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This Colonial Revival style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been minimally altered. There is a three-bay, center entrance; wood frame; gambrel roof; and large exposed brick chimney on both end walls of the original house. It has wood clapboard and shingle siding. The front façade (facing Main St.) has three steeply pitched gable dormers. The large addition off the right side of the original house has an end wall chimney and second floor balcony on the right side. There is a series of three gambrel-roofed sections along rear ell off of which is a cross-gambrel wing with a large brick end wall chimney and a one-story extension off its left side, basement exposed with access at ground level. There are some original 6-over-6 and 2-over-2 windows.

LANDSCAPE: There is an allee’ of trees along the entrance driveway which curves northward from Main Street ending in two interlocking circular drives, with adjacent parking areas. There are large bluestone walkways up to front and left side entries, with stone retaining and planter walls. It is a large property with open lawn, many mature trees and shrubs, ornamental, hardwood and evergreen trees and a wood picket fence along Main St. right-of-way.

The 1861 date for the original house suggests that the gambrel roof (as well as the steeply pitched gable dormers) is not original or that this is a much earlier house.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

The original portion of this house was built by Susan and Eliza Williams on the site now occupied by 101 Main Street. Eliza Williams lived here until 1873 when the house was purchased by Mrs. Kuhn who had built “Hillside” around 1870. Eliza Williams may have continued to live in the house as a tenant, as she is listed in the 1885 directory as having a house and lot on Main Street.

In 1905, the house was sold to Caroline Katherine Carey (Miss Kate Carey), who moved the front portion of the house to its present location, adding on an extensive wing containing servants’ quarters and a storeroom, and apparently remodeling the entire house. Miss Carey used part of the first floor servants’ wing as a carpentry shop, where she built doll and bird houses. Upon her death in 1945, the property was deeded to Trinity Church, who in turn sold it to Joseph Reynolds. In 1951, it was sold again to Maria Veselik, who renamed it Garden Gables and opened it as an Inn and gift shop.

In 1988 it was owned by Lynn Mekinda, Mario Mekinda as of 1998 and is owned (as of 2006) by Vittori Properties LLC.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Lenox Assessor’s Report

Registry of Deeds, Pittsfield, Mass. 172.44, 276.319, 219.425

Conversations with Mary E. Higgins Delasco (daughter of Miss Carey’s coachman) and Maria Veselik

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

136 Main, Congregational Church Parsonage – c.1895

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136 Main St., Congregational Church Parsonage

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

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.

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

134 Main St., St. Ann’s Rectory -c.1880

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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.

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012

Places

132 Main St. St. Ann’s Catholic Church – 1911

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old St. Ann's Church_1871 — Old St. Ann’s

132 Main St., St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church - 1911 — 132 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 42^nd 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.

******************************************************************************

NY Times, 1-12-1965:

Burrall Hoffman, architectural consultant on addition to Gracie Mansion (lead architect Mott B. Schmidt)

******************************************************************************

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]

Hoffman attended Harvard University, graduating in 1903. Hoffman spent his senior year as an apprentice at Carrere & Hastings, an architectural firm in New York. From 1903 to 1907, Hoffman attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, graduated with honors and returned to Carrere & Hastings in 1907^[3].

In 1910, Hoffman left Carrere & Hastings to begin his own architectural firm in Manhattan. He shared an office space, as well as collaborating on projects with Henry Creighton Ingalls. Hoffman’s first commission was a mausoleum in the Woodlawn Cemetery for Edmund Walstein Davis.

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

Lenox, Massachusetts Shire Town, David Wood, 1969

Lenox Assessor’s database 2012