Tag Archives: Lenox Gilded AGe

101 Yokun Ave., Henry Braem House – 1929

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This 2-story Tudor Revival style house is constructed with a masonry first floor and wood frame second story; cladding is stone, brick, stucco, and timber. The roof is hipped, clad with slate shingles, and has four shed dormers, two each on the front and rear, one on the left side. In addition there are three hipped dormers. There are four massive chimneystacks and one small brick center chimney. The first floor is finished with random ashlar stonework; half timbering on the upper stories is infilled with either stucco or brick laid up in a crazy course fashion. The window and door lintels are limestone. The house has an asymmetrical massing and articulated front facade. An L-shaped building footprint provides for a courtyard entrance on its north side. A 2-story, 4-bay, hipped roof, projecting service wing with garages creates the second side of the courtyard. Two arched vehicle bays are in its north side. The main section of the house has a 3-bay front facade plus a small pavilion on its left that extends forward, not only of the front facade, but also of the right side of the house. This pavilion has a steeply pitched front gable roof that extends down to the first floor on the right side with a half-timbered hipped dormer on it, and has a large exposed chimney stack of both stone (in the lower section) and brick (upper) on its front. The entrance vestibule has a steeply pitched front gable roof with flared eaves and wide verge board. There is half-timbering in its gable and in the upper portion of the door surround. Small kneewalls of timber and basket-weave brickwork complete the door surround. The intact front door is arched with a 1-light window, decorative faux nail-head band, and large decorative strap hinges. Decorative lead drainage pipes flank the front vestibule. To the right of the entrance is an arched window at mid-floor level (indicative of an interior stair landing). A recessed, 4-bay wide, right side ell with hipped roof and half-timbered hipped-roof dormer extends from the right rear (southwest) corner of the house. It contains a rear entrance. On the rear facade a 1-story ell provides for a south-facing balcony; a canted bay window at the second floor projects into it. A raised terrace extends along the remaining portion of the rear facade. The windows appear to be intact, mostly pairs of 6-light or 12-light casements and some single 8-light casements.

A detached, cross-gabled, 3-stall garage is located west of the house. It has half-timbered siding to match the style of the house. An original 2-story carriage house, also matching the Tudor Revival style of the house, is located in the western section of the property. It has had several major additions. Other minor outbuildings surround it, as do large parking areas.

A long curvilinear paved driveway extends off Yokun Avenue where it bends southward from its east-west connection to Cliffwood Street. The driveway runs along the north side of the property, connecting to the courtyard, and a large parking area west of the house, east of the detached garage. It continues past the garage to provide access to the carriage barn complex farther west. A fountain is located in the front yard. There are many mature coniferous and deciduous trees scattered throughout the grounds, and extensive open lawn areas.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

NOTE: “Holstead [sic] Lindsley” labeled on 1939 Sanborn Map.

The original Ethelwynde was built on this site by Henry Braem in 1875. Ethelwynde was demolished in 1928. In 1929 Halstead Lindsley bought the property, razed the old house, and built the present one. Mr. Lindsley lived here until his death in 1948, when it was sold to Mrs. Gordon Dexter of New York. The property changed hands several more times and on May 10, 1976 it was sold to Krofta Engineering for use as offices. On December 24, 1999 it was transferred to the founder of Krofta Engineering, Milos Krofta and on March 3, 2003 it was purchased by Jamie and Ethan Berg (Ethylwynde LLC).

The following is taken from a Rural Intelligence article (The Winthrop Estate: New Life for a Gilded Age Mansion) posted on the internet by Dan Shaw on August 19, 2009.

Like so many of the gilded age mansions, the Tudor house was dying a slow death. It had been barely touched for decades and was about to be foreclosed even though it was being used improbably as a corporate headquarters. “There were fluorescent lights and office carpeting, but it seemed to have beautiful bones,” says Ethan, who recalls all the people who worked there wore heavy coats because the thermostat was kept low since it was so expensive to heat. In 2003, the Bergs moved into the house and camped out in the paneled library because it was the coziest room and had a working fireplace. After six months, they moved next door to a modest 1950s house that is also part of the 45 acre estate, where they live with their children. “I would sit in the empty mansion and try to take cues from it,” says Ethan. “I thought, let’s lead with quality and the rest will take care of itself.”

He envisioned the house filled with music and interesting people—and now it is. The Bergs have developed parallel missions for the mansion, which is known as both the Lenox Athenaeum and the Winthrop Estate. As the Athenaeum, it hosts readings (by authors such as Simon Winchester), chocolate and wine tastings, and chamber music concerts (with superstars like Emanuel Ax or Yehuda Hanani, who stores his piano in their music room) for charities like the Lenox Library or Charley’s Fund. As the Winthrop Estate, it can be rented out in its entirety for family reunions or weddings.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

1939 Sanborn Map

Rural Intelligence article (The Winthrop Estate: New Life for a Gilded Age Mansion)

Lenox-Massachusetts Shire Town. David Wood, 1969 P. 192

Clipping file, Berkshire Athenaeum

Lenox Assessor’s database

Places

111 Yokun Ave., Richard C. Greenleaf House – c.1870

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This 2.5-story, wood-framed house with wood siding and corner boards is an excellent example of the Stick Style of architecture. It has a complex roof form with multiple gables and dormers that are clad with asphalt shingles and have exposed rafter ends. A jerkin-head roof detail on the east side extends down to provide a hood for a set of three attic windows. Two gabled dormers are on the front and one is on the rear. There are seven brick chimneys. The Stick Styling is evidenced by the wood banding at level of the window sills and high on the second floor, cross members in the large gables, exposed rafter ends, angled braces for the wide overhanging eaves and porch roof, cross bracing in porch railing, and watertable. These detail express on the exterior of the building its interior structure, which is the essence of the style. Above the high second floor banding the cladding is board and batten, below it is clapboard. The south side is the front facade and it has 2-story canted bay window on its west end, and a canted second floor bay window over the porch near its east end, which has a jerkin-head roof. The house has a porch that extends along the entire front (south) side and wraps around to the right side. Its roof is supported by chamfered pillars with collars. A right (east) side pavilion has a front gable roof features a Palladian window with four pilasters on the second floor; it has a peaked attic window above, and a projecting first floor beneath. On the first floor is a 3-part picture window with pilasters and a leaded fanlight in the upper sash over two lights flanked by double hung windows with diamond panes in the upper sashes. To the left of this pavilion is a triangular bay window on the second floor over the porch roof. There is a 2-story hipped roof rear ell with rear wall brick chimney. The foundation is stone. Some original tall, narrow windows arranged in pairs are extant, but many of the windows have been replaced or altered—such as a 3-part picture window to the left of that on the first floor of the right side pavilion with replaced glazing. Another change to the building is the removal of a projecting porch entry that angled 45 degrees out from its southeast corner. A balcony with exterior stair to grade has been added to the right of the right side pavilion. An open deck has replaced an original polygonal section of the porch at the southwest corner of the house.

A small wood-framed barn/garage built c.1875 is located behind the house. It has a steeply pitched front gable roof with large gable-roofed cupola. It has board and batten siding and its sliding doors for the vehicle bays are intact. Stone piers flank the driveway entrance off Yokun Avenue. The long driveway terminates in a circular section on the east side of the house in front of the barn. There are many mature coniferous and deciduous trees throughout the property and a more heavily wooded area behind the house.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Dr. Richard C. Greenleaf of Boston built Windyside, presumably as a summer home, although by the mid-1880’s he had made Lenox his permanent residence. An 1886 guidebook called it “one of the notable houses of the town”, and remarked on its interior “furnished in exquisite taste”. A large music room, added on to the house for his daughter’s wedding, contained a Roosevelt organ.

Greenleaf sold the house in 1921 to the Lenox Club, which relocated here from its Walker Street clubhouse. The Lenox Club has occupied the building ever since.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Lenox – Massachusetts Shire Town. David Wood, 1969 p.203

The Book of Berkshire. Clark W. Bryan, 1886 p.44

Lenox Club records

Lenox Assessor’s database

Places

124 Yokun Ave., Homestead Carriage House – 1884

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This small 1-story, wood-frame building was converted from a carriage house to a dwelling, year unknown. Since it has been adapted for residential use, with a few added features, it could be categorized as “Colonial Revival. It is sided with stucco, which may or may not be its original cladding. It has a hipped roof with wide overhanging eaves and a vent cupola. Roofing consists of asphalt shingles and standing seam metal. There is a brick interior chimney. The front facade, facing Yokun Avenue on the north, has five bays asymmetrically organized. A front gabled entrance porch is located at the far left edge. It has a standing seam metal roof with barrel-vaulted ceiling and is supported by two simple pillars. Metal side railings have been added. Beneath the porch roof and to the right of the front door is a set of two casement windows. The front door looks to have been replaced. Farther to the right on the front facade are two sets of three casement windows and two sets of two casement windows, from left to right. The rear facade is distinguished by two canted pavilions with hipped roofs. Between them is a gabled wall dormer. A broken-eave dormer with eave returns and a set of three casement windows is centered on the right side. The left (east) side has a small bump-out that has a hipped standing seam metal roof. The foundation is constructed of large rough-faced cut stones. Skylights have been added to the roof. Decorative window blinds are additions. A wood privacy fence runs along the east property line/Cliffwood Street right-of-way and turns the corner to run along Yokun Avenue up to the driveway entrance off Yokun. Another section of privacy fencing extends right from the right front corner of the building. Coniferous and deciduous shrubs also provide screening from the roadways. And there are specimen and ornamental trees in the small yard.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This carriage house was part of the original estate The Homestead. After the fire at Homestead, the property was divided into two sections. The carriage house became the property of Miss Annie May Hegeman. The house and carriage house stayed in the family until William and Aleid Channing sold the house in 1973. The Channing’s converted the carriage house in 1970. From 1973 until 1982 Evelyn C. Clarkson owned the converted carriage house. Dr. Norman Solomon acquired the property in 1982.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Lenox Town Hall Records

Mrs. Marcia Brown

American Country Houses of the Gilded Age p.13

Places

45 West St., William Ellery Sedgewick House – 1855

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This stone edifice is designed in the style of an English Manor, but with eclectic architectural elements. The house is two stories in height, has a hipped roof with slate shingles, and seven bays on its symmetrically organized front facade. In addition there are 3-bay wings on each side, with hipped roofs. There are seven brick chimneys, two of which are on the front wall of the right wing. One-story turrets are near the outer edges of the main section. The center entrance pavilion has a front gable roof having exposed rafter ends. The entrance door surround is marble with a Roman- or round-arched opening, a broken pediment, two engaged Doric columns and flanking pilasters. Other architectural features of the building are more Gothic in style, with peaked windows and steeply pitched broken-eave dormers. The left wing is deeper than the right and has a much more recent 1-story, gable roofed, rear extension off of it. There are some intact pairs of 6-light metal-framed casement windows with 4-light transoms, but a good number of the windows have been replaced. The foundation is stone. A wide terrace is located behind the house extending between the outer wings.

A small 1-story octagonal garden building with dressed marble walls and copper clad dome is located southeast of the house. It has dentils at its cornice and bas-relief panels in a vase and floral design are above the wall openings. It has lost its original garden setting to newer surrounding facilities. Behind this structure is a wood-framed dormitory, built c.1970, with concrete block first floor and vertical T-1-11-type siding on the second. It has a hipped roof. A c.1950 wood-framed garage with front gable roof and wood novelty siding is sited directly east of the house. Its single-car vehicle bay has been in-filled with a door and flanking windows. Marble piers flank the entry to a long driveway off West Street that curves back a circular drive centered on the front entrance to the house. This circular section has a low stone wall encircling it. A driveway branches off the long drive northeast of the house to provide access to the rear portions of the property, which includes outdoor tennis and basketball courts. A stone wall runs along the front property line/West Street right-of-way from the marble entry piers.

Architects Carrere and Hastings

John Merven Carrère was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the son of John Merven Carrère, a Baltimore native and Anna Louisa Maxwell, a Scots/Brazilian native of Rio who was the daughter of Joseph Maxwell, a prosperous coffee trader. The architect’s father entered Maxwell’s coffee business and later developed other business interests of his own in Brazil. As a boy Carrère was sent to Switzerland for his education until 1880, when he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he was in the atelier of Leon Ginian until 1882. He returned to New York where his family had resettled after leaving Brazil and worked as draughtsmen for the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White. He and his Paris acquaintance, Thomas Hastings, worked there together before striking out on their own in 1885. During this period Carrère independently designed several circular panorama buildings in New York and Chicago. After he married Marion Dell in 1886 they lived in Staten Island and had three daughters, one of whom died as an infant. In 1901 they moved to East 65th Street in Manhattan, and built a country house in Harrison, NY.

Thomas S. Hastings was born in New York City on March 11, 1860. His father, also Thomas S. Hastings (1827–1911), was a noted Presbyterian minister, homiletics professor, and dean of the Union Theological Seminary. His grandfather, Thomas Samuel Hastings (1784–1872), was one of America’s leading church musicians of the 19th century: he composed hymns, including ‘Rock of Ages,’ and published the first musical treatise by a native-born composer in 1822. Hastings was educated in private schools in New York, and began his architectural apprenticeship at Herter Brothers, the premier New York furnishers and decorators. He attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris from 1880–1883 as a student in the atelier of Jules André. There he met his future partner, and both maintained ties to Europe throughout their lives (Hastings earning the French Legion of Honor as well as the Gold Medal of the RIBA).

The architects were noted for their contributions to the country house and garden movement of the early 1900s, where they introduced both stylistic and compositional ideas that shaped domestic architecture for decades to come. Their garden designs were extensively published, and they created a comprehensive staff to handle interior design in large houses, one of the first offices to offer these services. Their largest and most notable country houses included Blairsden (1898) in Peapack, New Jersey, Bellefontaine (1897, altered) in Lenox, Massachusetts, Arden (1905–09) in Harriman, New York, and Nemours (1910) in Wilmington, Delaware.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

A ‘gentleman’s estate’ was established on this land in 1855 by William Ellery Sedgwick, a member of the locally prominent family. The original house was a substantial stone farmhouse rather than a mansion of any kind. The house was subsequently purchased by Professor Salisbury of Yale, who in turn sold it to William R. Robeson in 1872. Robeson, a wealthy Boston banker, enlarged and remodeled the house and named it “The Elms”. In 1901-02 Grenville Winthrop purchased the property and had the existing house substantially enlarged and remodeled according to plans by Carrere and Hastings. Winthrop, a direct descendent of the first governor of Massachusetts, filled the house with art and sculpture, most of which he bequeathed to Harvard’s Fogg Museum. He was the President of the Lenox Library Association for 26 years, and with the gift of Bald Head Mountain established the Pleasant Valley Bird and Wild Life Sanctuary. He was an amateur gardener and horticulturalist, and was awarded a silver medal by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1914 for “harmonious lawn and woodland effect”, and the Hunnewell gold medal for the same organization in 1934 for the care and treatment given the property, (with the help of a large staff). Winthrop’s estate “represented the last word in landscape architecture”, with some 40 varieties of trees and 65 acres of lawn, over which exotic birds such as peacocks and pheasants roamed. Even rarer ornithological specimens were kept in a 10-acre, 8 foot high wire enclosure. An aquarium was also located in a building on the grounds. After Winthrop’s death in 1943, the property was acquired by the Windsor Mountain School. It was acquired by Boston University in 1980.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Lenox – Massachusetts Shire Town. David H. Wood, 1969

The Berkshire Cottages – A Vanishing Era. Carole Owens, 1984

The Berkshire Eagle 7/17/44, 7/18/44 (Berkshire Athenaeum clipping file)

Lenox Assessor’s database

Places

151 Walker St., David Lydig House – 1887

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

151 Walker St 151 — 151 Walker St., David Lydig House – 1887

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This expansive 2-story Colonial Revival house exhibits the symmetrically organized 3-bay front facade with center entrance characteristic of the style. It has a hipped roof, with slate shingles and modillions ornamenting its eaves. Two large brick interior chimneys reinforce the symmetry of the architectural composition. The house is clad with wood clapboard. Two 2-story turrets with conical roofs embellished with garlands, distinguish the outer bays. Extending between and projecting slightly in front of them is the front porch, which has four pairs of Ionic columns and a balustrade atop with turned balusters. A set of three double hung windows on the second floor center bay has pilasters between and flanking them and arcaded headers with shell decoration. The entrance door surround is fairly simple, with ¾-length sidelights above panels; there are double doors. Aligned above the center entrance are two front-gabled dormers with scrolled pediments that are connected by a shed-roofed dormer with standing seam metal roof. A matching set of dormers is located on the left side of the roof, while two dormers on the right side have hipped roofs and lack notable decoration. A recessed 2-story right side ell has a brick endwall chimney and a 1-story sunporch/conservatory fronting it with a cupola. Most of the windows appear to be replaced and have decorative window blinds.

A 2-story, wood-framed carriage house is located behind the house, separated from it by a stand of trees and the access driveways. It has an L-shaped building footprint, two large front gabled wall dormers with a cupola between. There are two right-side extensions—one with a shed roof, the other with a gable roof. The front-projecting garage wing has a hipped roof and two vehicle stalls. A pool house located south of the house provides the terminus for an axis from the house through formal gardens, in which the in-ground swimming pool is sited. Box hedges surround the swimming pool along with required fencing. This accessory building has a hipped roof and clapboard siding. Stone entry piers flank the western entrance to a long curvilinear driveway that runs behind the house (with a drive branching off to the carriage house) and back out to an eastern entry that has a wooden gate. A stone wall extends along the front property line/Walker Street right-of-way with a mature hedge and trees behind it.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Since August, 1988, the property has been sold to Steven Rufo in 1990, then to the Thistlewood Nominee Trust in 2002. Mr. and Mrs. Lee Munder acquired the property in 2003.

This house was built in 1887 for Mr. and Mrs. David Lydig. After Mrs. Lydig’s death in 1930 the house was rented, then sold to the Paxton family, then sold to Mr. John Gillies who then sold it in 1957 to Mr. and Mrs. W.E.D. Stokes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Wood, David Lenox: Massachusetts Shire Town, P. 201.

Town of Lenox Assessors Card, 2012

Places

399 Under Mountain Rd., William Slater House – 1901

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This is a 2-story, 5-bay, stone and wood framed house built in the Tudor Revival or English Cottage style. It is oriented to the south, with a hill rising up behind it. It is clad with stone and stucco with some half-timbering. It has a gable roof with asphalt shingles; it extends down to the top of the first floor in the rear. There are six chimneys, most of them brick, with corbelling and flared tops. However, the exposed front wall chimney is of stone a typical feature of the Tudor Revival style. The front façade is distinguished by three pavilions, all with steeply pitched front gable roofs; the center one is smallest but is stone clad, features a king post at its peak, and contains the Tudor-arched entrance. The front door is recessed, creating a shallow entry porch. Above the door is a set of three casement windows. The first floor also has a group of three windows in the bay left of the entrance pavilion and a pair of windows in the bay to its right. Paired windows are above these. A large brick interior chimney is in this section of the house. There is a right side ell with the basement exposed at its right side due to the slope of the site. Above, on the front, the stuccoed second story overhangs the first floor and there is a brick end-wall chimney. Around the right corner is a balcony with an X-patterned railing. A set of three windows is on the first floor front facade and paired windows are on its second. A newer 1-story hipped roof ell is off the left end of the house. A brick end-wall chimney is located between it and the main section. There are four gabled dormers on the rear. Most of the windows are intact 4-o-4 double hung sashes. The foundation is stone. A detached, hipped- roof, 2-stall garage is located to the right (east) of the house. There is an in-ground swimming pool in the rear yard, separated from the house by a stand of coniferous trees. A circle driveway centered on the front entrance is fronted by a stone wall. A long driveway off Under Mountain road connects with it from the east.

Architect George C. Harding (1867-4/23/1921)

“Senior member of the firm of Harding & Seaver, architects of several noted public buildings in the New England area. Mr. Harding was a native and life-long citizen of Pittsfield, educated in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and had been active professionally since 1896. After working alone for a time, in 1902 he formed a partnership with Henry M. Seaver, and under the firm name acquired a wide and successful practice. His most important works include the following buildings: Museum of Natural History and Art at Pittsfield, 1907; the Y.M.C.A. Building, 1908; Lathrop Hall, 1905, and Memorial Chapel, 1914, at Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y.; Town Hall at Lenox, Mass., 1903, and Colby Academy at New London, N.H. Mr. Harding also designed a number of fine homes, one distinguished example being the country house of former Senator Crane at Dalton, Mass.”^{^[1]}

From MACRIS List – Sept. 16, 2008

Inv. No	Property Name	Street	City/Town	Year Built
LEN.25	Lenox Town Hall	6 Walker St	Lenox	1901
LEN.296	Slater, William House	249 Under Mountain Rd	Lenox	1901
LEN.23	Curtis Hotel	6 Main St	Lenox	1829
LEN.19	Hagyard, Frank C. Store	36 Main St	Lenox	1910
LEN.100	Hegeman, Annie May House	61 Cliffwood St	Lenox	1925
LEN.26	Lenox Fire House	14 Walker St	Lenox	1909
LEN.29	Peters, Leonard C. Block	46-50 Walker St	Lenox	1917

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This house was built in 1901 according to the original plans. The property’s first house which was built in 1880 is the farmhouse. The farmhouse was built by Dr. H.P. Jacques. In 1920 the house (main) was owned by Mrs. William Slater. Judge and Mrs. Charles Bosworth conducted the estate as a farm and raised fine saddlebred horses. In 1936 the property was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Leonard C. Feathers. They changed the name to Waterford. In 1942 the property was sold to Mr. and Mrs. John L. Senior who changed the name to Highwick Farm. In the 1970’s the property was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Peter Sprague, who call it Under Mountain Farm. It was acquired by the Sprague Family Trustee in 1988.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Original plans

Marcia Brown

Tjasa Sprague

Town of Lenox Assessors Card

[1] Henry F. Withey, AIA and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased)(Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970) p. 264.

Places

169 Under Mountain Rd., John Parsons House – c.1875

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

The property contains a complex of farm buildings, almost all of which exhibit the architectural characteristics of the Arts and Crafts style. The farmhouse is two stories in height, has a 5-bay front façade, and is two bays deep. It has both stone and wood frame construction. Random rough-face cut stones quarried on the site clad the first floors, while wood shingle siding is used on the upper portions of the house. It has a gable roof with gable dormers; verge boards have decorative scroll sawn ends. There are two large stone interior chimneys. There are two front gabled pavilions, each with a porch. The one on the right side of the front façade is under a second floor overhang, which is supported by turned posts, and has a millwork railing. A group of four double hung sash windows are on the second floor above it and a pair of attic windows above them. The porch on the left side is also under a second floor overhang—on the left side only. Two simple turned posts atop stone piers plus a massive stone pillar support the overhang. On the second floor are two sets of three windows, each set having a large fanlight transom and at the attic level is a set of three windows with four small brackets below; the shingle siding above flares out over them. Virtually all the windows are 1-o-1 double hung sashes, which may be original or replacements. There is a 2-story right side ell with slightly lower gable roof from which a 1-story hipped roof extension projects. A glazed conservatory has been added to the left side of the house, which has a shed roof that is partly solid and partly glazed.

A 2-plus-story basement barn is located to the right of the house. It has a gable roof and an exposed stone basement on the front and is clad with wood shingles above. A cross-gabled second floor pavilion is supported with scroll sawn brackets that contained the original hay door (now infilled with windows). Four- and 6-light barn sashes are set into the stone wall on the front. The entrance door is paneled. Double swing doors on the left side have 6-light windows over vertical panels. Lozenge windows are in the gable peaks. A roof vent has a hipped roof. A stone endwall chimney is on the left side. Extending from the left side of the barn is a recessed 1-story ell with gable roof and two cupola vents. It has a hay door in a dormer. A garage wing extends of its left side containing two double vehicle bays with newer overhead doors. That section has a large wood shingled front gabled dormer.

A long 1-story outbuilding with gable roof, set well back from the house and barn has a stone kneewall with wood shingle cladding above. Its front façade is articulated with a shallow, hipped-roof pavilion three bays wide, a projecting gable, and a smaller gabled bump-out. There are eight bays with paired windows plus a 2story polygonal turret at the far right side. A stone chimney is located between the gabled section and turret. A millwork railing encloses a patio area in front of the turret

A third outbuilding has been attached to the rear of the farmhouse with a 1-story hyphen. Another small, 1-story outbuilding, located between the house and barn, is a one-room schoolhouse that was moved to the property. It has a hipped roof topped with a bellcote. There are three glass doors on the front and four double hung windows on its left side. A stream runs from the hills behind the buildings between the various buildings and has been damned to create a small, stone-lined duck pond in the front yard (with attendant tiny duck house beside it). There is a stone wall in front of the house and a long one that runs along and across the road from the property. Mature specimen, deciduous and coniferous trees are scatted throughout the site, which also has open lawn areas.

Architect Charles T. Rathbun -1908^{^[1]}

Rathbun served as a Commissioner for Pittsfield’s “Main-drains, common sewers, and sidewalks” from 1867 – 1875.[2]

Other Buildings Designed by Rathbun (from MACRIS, unless otherwise footnoted):

1870 – Citizens’ Hall, West Stockbridge

1872 – Methodist Episcopal Church, Pittsfield[3]

1873 – Old Gas Works, Pittsfield

1874 – Memorial Town Hall, Lee

1874 – First Baptist Church (remodeled), Pittsfield[4]

1880 – Oman Block, Lee

1881 – Central Block, Pittsfield

1884 – Rosa England Block, Pittsfield

1887 – Hoosac Street School, Adams

1890 – Second Burns Block, Pittsfield

1893 – Housatonic Congregational Church, Great Barrington

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Stonover Farm was built in 1870 by John Parsons as the farm house for the Parsons Estate, Stonover on Yokun Avenue. The house was maintained by Mr. Herbert Parsons, a New York Congressman and his wife Elsie Crews (who was one of the first female anthropologists, AH). They lived there with their daughter who maintained the property after their death, Mrs. John D. Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy left the property to Mr. Herbert Patterson of New York. After his death he left the property to his secretary. The property was then purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Dovydenas.

The property without the barn was transferred to Lawrence and Rosemary Geller in 1990. Tom and Suky Werman purchased the house in 2000 and the barn in 2003 and have made extensive renovations to convert Stonover Farm into a renowned Bed and Breakfast Inn.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Marcia B. Brown

Janet H. Pumphrey

Town of Lenox Assessor Card

[1] American Architecture & Building News, VOL. XCIV, No. 1703, August 12, 1908 issue, p. 16.

[2] J. E. A. Smith, History of Pittsfield From the Year 1800 to the Year 1876, (Springfield, MA: C. W. Bryan & Co, 1876), p. 572.

[3] Ibid, p. 446.

[4] Ibid, pp.442-443.

Places

119 Under Mountain Rd., Daniel C. Belden House – c.1875

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This is a 2-story Federal period building of brick construction (modified common bond) with a 3-bay front facade and front gable roof with pediment and fanlight attic window. The roof is clad with asphalt shingles. It has a brick chimney at the right rear corner and another on the right side wall. The front entrance is recessed within an arched opening, in the right-most bay. The door surround has a fanlight transom, ¾-length, 21-pane sidelights in a “plaid” muntin pattern. This section of the house has a long 2-story rear extension, with slightly lower gable roof and cupola. On its left (southwesterly) side runs a 1-story glazed porch. On its right side is a box bay supported by two massive Tuscan columns and a second box bay farther back is above a 1-story hipped-roof projection that fronts another 2-story cross-gabled rear addition terminating in a polygonal section on its right side (north end). That section has a brick center chimney. A greenhouse extends from the rear of these multiple rear additions. Back to the front facade, a large 2-story, 3-bay side ell with wood shingle siding extends left of the original 3-bay house. It has a brick endwall chimney on its left side, between it and a recessed 1-story addition to its left. The roof of this 1-story section extends to cover a porch running along its front, with chamfered pillars, a simple wood railing of horizontal members, and a small canopy supported by scroll sawn brackets at its entrance. The windows are primarily 6-o-6 and may be quite old if not original. The foundation is stone. With all the extensions and additions, the footprint of the building is roughly H-shaped.

A large barn, built c.1850, is located to the left and rear of the house. It has a gable roof with cupola/vent. A front-gabled, broken-eave dormer is on the roadside facade; a balcony projecting from it has been added, as have a set of glass doors below. The barn has been converted to studio/living space and now sports a Modern 2-story glass bay on its left side. A recessed 2-story, gable-roofed ell is on the right side and has a shed-roofed canopy over its entrance. Solar panels have been added to the roof on either side of the cupola. There is an in-ground swimming pool to the left of the house, across the driveway. A pool house on the left side of the pool has front gable roof with cupola facing the house. A split-rail wood fence runs along the front property line/road right-of-way. The property has been extensively landscaped with gardens and ornamental trees and shrubs that provide a privacy screen for both the house and pool. There are also many mature coniferous and deciduous trees on the property.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

First records of this house can be traced to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel C. Belden in 1889. They left the house in their will to their daughters Mary and Ellen. Mary Tappen and Ellen Dixey sold the property in 1928 to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hibbard. In 1962 they sold the house again to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Sitzer. The house was sold again in 1972 to Mr. and Mrs. Malcom M. Frager.

The property was acquired by Anita Howe-Waxman in 1993 and then by Richard and Ingrid Taylor in 2000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Lenox Town Hall Records

Pittsfield Registry of Deeds

Town of Lenox Assessor’s Card

Places

40 Plunkett St., Edward Spencer Carriage House – 1885

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Forms Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This 3-story, 3-bay, wood frame, house exhibits the Tudor Revival style of architecture, popular in the early 20^th century. The construction date is on the center gable of the building, which was originally a carriage barn, probably containing quarters for hostlers or stablemen. There are multiple roof lines and gables, most clad with asphalt shingles, and several dormers. The primary finish on the building is stucco with some exposed wood timber framing. A central 3-story tower/entrance pavilion dominates the front facade. It has a front gable roof with half-timbering in the gable and at the third floor level, which contains a set of three diamond-paned, leaded glass casement windows. It has broken-eave gabled dormers on both sides, also with half-timbering. A stuccoed chimney stack tops this small roof. On the tower/pavilion’s second floor are similar leaded glass casement windows that wrap around the three sides (three on the front, two on the sides), but with transoms. The first floor of the tower/pavilion has Tudor arched entrance openings and recessed wood doors on the front and left sides. A 2-story cross-gabled section is located behind the tower/pavilion from which 2-story, flat-roof bays with parapet walls project. They have sets of four leaded glass casement windows on both first and second floors with single overarching label molds over each set. A massive stuccoed chimneystack is on the right gable end wall and there is another in the interior. Front gable dormers overlook the flat roofed sections. Extending from the right side of the main gabled section is a recessed 1-story wing with gable roof. On the left side of this section is a recessed 2-story square tower that is glazed on the front and left sides. Behind and to the left of this original building is a huge gable-roofed rear ell that extends far to the left. It also has a massive interior stuccoed chimney stack and gabled dormers. A metal fire escape from its front gabled attic window extends down to the ground. From this rear addition project two 2-story front-gabled bays with a flat-roofed section between. A terrace extends along the back of the rear section.

There are three accessory buildings on this property. One is a 1.5-story cottage named “Carriage House.” It has clipped, “Jerkin-head” gable roof with a front gabled wall dormer over its entrance. A 2-story rear ell has a cupola and a shed dormer with balconette. The building also has a long 2-story, 3-bay left side ell. It is stuccoed to match the lodge. To the north of it, is a second accessory building, 1-story with a 3-bay front facade. It has a front gabled entrance porch facing the main building. It too is stuccoed to match the lodge. On the east side of the main lodge is a c.1970 2-story, motel-like lodging facility with gable roof, second floor balcony that runs its length, on the rear, entrance side of the structure. It has vinyl siding and paired 1-o-1 windows on the street facade. There is a stone retaining wall facing the two small cottages that mediates the grade between them and a large unpaved parking lot, which is at a higher elevation. The lot extends along the front of the main lodge and connects on to a second parking arwea behind the cottages. A ground-mounted sign with shield shape identifies the complex as the “Seven Hills Inn.” Mature coniferous trees line the front and side property lines.

NOTE: Check National Register nomination for “The Mount” to see whether the main lodge building (original carriage house) was included in that. If so, it should be referenced on the Bldg Form.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

This is the carriage house to Shipton court. It was built in 1911. The property has recently been renovated and restored by the most recent owners, Drewkat Partners, Inc. who acquired Seven Hill Inn in 2008. Shipton Court was established in 1911 by Mrs. Edward Spencer. She lived here many summers. In 1953 the property and its buildings was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Hewitt. They changed the name to Seven Hills, Inc. In 1983 Mr. Howard Green bought the property. He owned it until 1987 when he sold to Baron Properties Nine Limited partnership. The property was acquired by the Fereal Realty Trust in 1994 and then by Drewkat Partners LLC in 2008.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Wood, Lenox . p. 197

Lenox Town Hall

Pittsfield Registry of Deeds

Lenox Assessor’s database

Places

1 Pittsfield Rd., Frank Parson House – c.1890

September 11, 2014 lenoxhistory Leave a comment

From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

This 2-story, wood-framed farmhouse has a front gable, asphalt-shingled roof with three bays on the front facade. It is clad with wood clapboard, has corner boards and a water-table. There is a brick center chimney and a brick rear wall chimney. The house has symmetrically placed and recessed cross-gabled ells off both the right and left sides. A 2-story, hipped-roof, canted bay window projects from the left side ell, with paired windows on its outer wall on the first and second floors. Behind this ell is a glazed sunporch with a side entry; steps once provided access to it from the basement-level grade as evidenced by a pipe railing. The steps have been lost. The stone basement/foundation is exposed on the rear of the house; portions have been parged. The window trims have molded headers. The distinguishing feature of this dwelling, its 3-sided wrap-around porch that extended across the front and connected to both the side ells, has been removed. It had a hipped roof supported by eight turned posts and it had a geometric-designed railing. The left-hand portion of the porch had been glazed early on. The original 2-o-2 windows (evident on the 1994 survey photograph) have been replaced. Although simple in design, it reflects the architectural transition between Gothic Revival and Queen Anne styles. No outbuildings remain on the site, the driveway access is overgrown, and the rear yard has become something of a dumpsite. Seventeen years ago, when first surveyed, the house was viewed as being in “fair condition.” In 2012, it looks to be on the verge of being condemned and razed.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:

Home and workshop barn behind was built by Frank Parson who was a contractor/builder. Skip Parson, Frank’s son, continued the business. They built the Bradford Inn on Route 7 which was later called the Cardinal Inn (this property now is the site of the Quality Inn). Mabel Annie Parson and Mira Katherine Parson, the daughters of Skip Parson, lived in the house and kept accurate records of the Church on the Hill burial grounds which are used today and is the only record of births and deaths that Lenox has during their lifetime. In 1987 the structure was owned by a great grandchild of Frank Parson. It was owned by Pam Hicks in 1994 and acquired by Brian C. Hicks in 1995.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:

Town of Lenox Board of Assessors

Tom Bosworth (Lenox native).

Harvey M. Steurwald (Lenox Native), who knows the family and was employed by the Parsons as a carpenter for the contracting business.