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 is a 4-bay, wood frame with asymmetrical form, a hipped roof and several gable dormers. There are 3 brick chimneys (2 on the right side and 1 on the left. It has a gabled 2nd floor balcony on the right side of the front façade. It has wood clapboard & wood shingle siding as well as decorative shingling in the front gable, on the flared band between the 1st & 2nd floors, and in the balcony gable. There is a large scrolled pediment over the entrance to the glazed wrap-around porch. A front gabled bay projects over the front of the porch. It has a 2-story faceted bay window on the left side with scroll sawn braces above angled sides finished with a ball pendant 2-story rear ell. There are intact 2-over-2 & 4-over-4 windows. It has authentic wood blinds on the 2nd floor and a foundation of large dressed stones.
This is a good example of the Queen Anne style, which enjoyed a brief popularity in Lenox before being eclipsed by the Colonial Revival (another surviving example of this style is the former Congressional Parsonage at 142 Main Street). Like most Queen Anne houses, this one is eclectic, mixing elements such as the Palladian window in the front gable with medieval touches like the patterned masonry chimneys. One of the two chimneys has an oval window inset. This was something of a technological marvel in the 1880’s. The hipped roof with cross gables and varied dormers is a hallmark of this style, although ill-suited to snowy Berkshire winters. An original front porch and a small second-story porch were later enclosed with multi-paned windows; and the installation of a commercial storefront in one corner of the front façade have somewhat altered the Queen Anne façade.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
This house was built on the site of an earlier house demolished in the late 1870’s. The lot was purchased from the owner of that house, Lucy Cottrell by Electa Eddy in 1880. In 1885, Charles and Margaret Eddy mortgaged the property for $ 9,000, and the following year sold it to John Egmont Schermerhorn for $25,000. The furnishings of the house were included in this sale, with the exception of several items mentioned specifically in the deed, the famly and household silver and linens, and the “articles of bric-a-brac of a personal and ornamental character”. Mr. Schermerhorn named the house “The Lanai”, perhaps referring to its original porches. Frank and Mary Newton acquired the property in 1992.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Registry of Deeds, Pittsfield, MA 243.329, 258.354, 262.5454
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Federal/Neo-Classical style building has two stories, a metal roof and is intact. It has a three-bay, center entrance and brick construction laid up in Flemish bond. It has a hipped roof with a balustrade in alternating paneled and geometric railing sections. The entablature is topped by a pediment with modillions and a tall cylindrical lantern with modillions, supported with eight fluted Doric columns and topped with a spire. Paired Ionic columns support the entablature and flank the central entrance. There are Ionic pilasters at the outer edges of the front façade. A shallow ell projects from the left side with a cross-hipped roof. There are brick chimneys – four side wall, right and one side wall, left. The door surround has a segmentally arched transom, 2/3rds-length sidelights with panels below; original or early or early wood paneled front door. There are blind archways with windows in outer bays of the front façade. The building is eight bays deep with intact 6-over-6 windows, limestone lintels, flared headers, (cylindrical metal fire-stop shade holders attached), and authentic wood paneled shutters.
1893 Sanborn Map labels bldg as follows: “Bank” in right front section, “Library” in left front section, “Stage & Scenery” in rear, “Hall – 2nd [floor],” & rear addition as “Assembly Hall”.
Isaac Damon was born in 1781. At age 30, he moved from Weymouth (MA) to Northampton (MA). His wife died the following year, and he married Sophia Strong (pictured), who delivered eight children. Over the course of his career, Damon built at least 13 churches, 14 other buildings, and 25 bridges. Most of his buildings were constructed in the Connecticut River Valley, but his bridge work took him farther afield. His fully-enclosed bell towers and steeples are easily recognized throughout his region of influence. He retired in 1852 at the age of 71 and died ten years later.
Following From: Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) by Henry F. Withey, AIA & Elsie Rathburn Withey. (Los Angeles, CA: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970).
“Damon, (Captain) Isaac
“Architect-building in western Massachusetts for more than three decades, his work included a number of public buildings, mainly churches. It is believed that Damon was one of the junior draftsmen in the Town & Davis office in New York, and when in 1811 he was called to Northampton to build the First Congregational Church, it seems probable that Ithiel Town helped prepare the plans (*). The church, one of the largest and most elaborate in New England at the time of its erection stood until 1878 when it was destroyed by fire. In Northampton Mr. Damon also designed the Town Hall built in 1823 (*).
“In the course of years he executed many important commissions, and the drawings, some of them in India ink, showed skill in draftsmanship. In his work as builder he was one of the first to understand the use of a truss and incorporated it in the bridgework of a number of buildings. Thirteen or more churches in the western part of the state are ascribed to him among which should be named the First Church at Lenox, dating from 1814; the First Church at Springfield, 1818 (**); the old Meeting House at Ware, 1820 (**), and the Unitarian Meeting House at Greenfield. In addition he was architect of the county Court House at Lenox (an early building from 1814); and probably designed (at least he was paid for making the plans) the oldest group of buildings at Amherst College, including the North and South halls and the Chapel between 1821 and 1827 (***).
“- References: Dictionary of American Biography; “Town and Davis, Architects,” by Roger Hale Newton (*); “Greek Revival Architecture in America,” Talbot Hamlin, 1944 (***).”
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
Built in 1815, this was Lenox’s Second County Courthouse. The First Courthouse, a wooden structure built shortly after Lenox became the county seat in 1787, was not large enough to adequately serve the needs of the county court. The new Courthouse was a far more imposing structure, costing the county $26,059, a substantial sum in 1815. The Courthouse quickly became a landmark, and came to symbolize Lenox’s position of prominence in the region.
When the county seat moved to Pittsfield in 1868, this building was vacated, and its fate uncertain. Mrs. Adeline Schermerhorn, a long-time summer resident of Lenox, heard about the impending auction of the building at her winter residence in Rome, and commissioned Judge Julius Rockwell to secure the property to be held in trust for the people of Lenox as a free public library. Mrs. Schermerhorn died before the deed could be executed, but her children carried out her wishes, and conveyed the property to the five trustees named by their mother. At her request the building was named the Charles Sedgwick Library, after the popular Clerk of the Courts and citizen of Lenox. The library was dedicated in January of 1874. The rooms formerly occupied by the probate court were leased to the selectmen as town offices. The Lenox Library Association, which had been formed in 1797 and originally housed in the First County Courthouse, decided to move from its 1856 brick building (on the present site of the Congregational Chapel) and consolidate its collection with the Sedgwick Library. Currently serves as the Lenox Library.
Listed on National Register of Historic Places April 3, 1973
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Old Form B
Town Assessor’s Report
Lenox Library, John H.P. Gould and Irene M. Poirier, 1948
Interview with Mrs. Linstead, Librarian, 1978
David Merrill, “Issac Damon and the Southwick Column Papers,” Old Time New England, Vol. LIV, No. 2, Fall 1963, pp. 48-58
7 Main St., Major General John Paterson House – 1783
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Federal style building has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been minimally altered. It is a 5-bay, center entrance construction. It has wood frame; clapboard siding with a hipped roof with molded cornice with dentiled band below. There are 2 brick end-wall chimneys, painted white. It has a symmetrically organized front façade and an intact entrance porch with pediment, pillars and pilasters. The front door surround has a 4-light transom. There is a large 2-story rear ell with hipped roof, an exposed foundation, and entry at the basement level. It has a left side wall chimney and a 1-story rear extension on its right side. The building has a stone foundation.
A five-bay, hipped-roof Federal house with a center entrance and end wall chimneys. It is one of the few houses of this period to survive in Lenox Village (others are 74 Walker St., 83 Main St., and 9 Cliffwood St.) This is the largest and most impressive of them, although it is restrained in ornament, and reflects the position held by the Paterson family.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
This house was built for Major General John Paterson, a friend, counselor and comrade of General George Washington, and led the Berkshire troops. John Paterson was the Berkshires’ most distinguished soldier in the Revolutionary War, and led troops in most of the major battles of the war. He was an advisor to George Washington crossed the Delaware with him. Through most of the war he held the rank of Colonel, but before leaving the service of the United States Army he was appointed full Major General.
Major General Paterson did not occupy this house for long, for in 1790 he retired to Lisle, New York, where he died in 1808. The house passed to his daughter, Hannah Paterson, and her husband Major Azariah Egleston. Egleston, who had served under Paterson and also participated in most of the major battles of the revolution. Egleston later served as Justice of the Peace and state senator. The house remained in the Egleston family through the 19th century, although later generations used it as a summer residence. The building was purchased by the Lenox National Bank in 1968 and has operated as a bank since 1971.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Lenox: Massachusetts Shire Town, David Wood, 1969
Lenox and the Berkshire Highlands, R. DeWitt Mallary, 1902
Dictionary of American Biography
Inscription on Paterson-Egleston Monument
Lenox Assessor’s database – 2011
Lenox Library Reference Section (Invoice from William Walker Esq to Simeon Smith)
This Georgian/Colonial Revival style building has four stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It is masonry construction with brick laid up with common bond–red mortar used in oldest remaining section. It is hipped roof and symmetrically organized with a 7-bay front façade with 3-bay center pavilion with pediment, dentils & modillions. It has a fanlight at attic level with keystone. There are 4 large brick chimneys in front portion of buildging-1 on each side wall, 2 front wall at outer edges of center pavilion. There are corner pilasters. The 1-story front porch wraps around to the right (South) side with a canopied entrance extending from the right. There are front gable dormers on sides of rear extension with Gothic Revival-style decorative verge boards. There is a full-story faceted bay window at the junction between new front section and older rear wing on the right (South) side of building in place by 1898 and the extension of the rear wing, with faceted bay was in place by 1905.
Berkshire Week article quoted from pamphlet put out by the hotel that William D. Curtis undertook a major renovation “soon after he gained ownership of the hotel” (1854) thus dating the angled rear wing to this time period, hence the Gothic Revival-style dormers. The plaque on rear façade reads: “1829 – 1982 Restoration of the Curtis [Hotel] into Housing for Older People [&] Commercial Facilities…Barry Architects, Inc.”
Harding and Seaver Architects
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
Henry M. Seaver (3/6/1873 – ?
The Edward A. Jones Memorial Building was designed by Pittsfield architect Henry M. Seaver. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1897 and began his own architectural firm in 1901.[2] By 1903 he had entered into a partnership with George C. Harding that lasted until Harding’s death in 1921.[3] During that period the firm designed the YMCA Building in Pittsfield; the Chapel at Colgate University in central New York; the Museum of Natural History and Art in Pittsfield; the Colby Academy in New London, New Hampshire; and the Lenox Town Hall.[4] After Harding’s death in 1921, Seaver kept the office open through 1933, during which time he designed the Jones building at the House of Mercy. Other buildings for which he was responsible in this period include the R.J. Flick Residence; an addition to the Berkshire Life Building in Pittsfield; and an addition to the Pittsfield Boys Club Building. He was also an associate architect on the Pittsfield High School Building.[5]
The Curtis is one of the largest and most imposing buildings in the town center. The original temple front structure, which forms the core of the present building, was probably designed as a counterpart to the Second County Courthouse of 1816 (now the Lenox Library). During the course of the nineteenth century the building was greatly expanded, and some of the decorative elements on these additions are notably Victorian (most notably the gabled dormers on the southern façade). However, the use of red brick and the continuation of the classical cornice around the building gives it a unified appearance that belies its many changes.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
The following information is from the 1/31/1987 Form B.
This corner has been the sight of an inn of some sort since at least 1773 when the tavern standing here served as a stop on the stagecoach route from Hudson, N.Y. to Pittsfield. Traffic in the town increased after Lenox was made the county seat in 1787. From about 1793 the Berkshire Coffee House operated on this site, and became famous as the gathering spot for people conducting business at the county Courthouse (then located across the street on the present site of Town Hall).
In 1829 a brick hotel was built by Peck and Phelps, “at the urgent request and demand of persons attending the courts for increased and sufficient accommodations.” For short time iw was rented to George W. Platner, and was then purchased by major S. Wilson. According to one mid-century guidebook “ the principal hotel – so situated as to command a favorable view, both of the village and distant scenery – has become, under the care of its efficient proprietor, M.S. Wilson, Esq., a favorite resort for visitors from the cities.”
The hotel was purchased by William O.Curtis in 1853, and has been known as the Curtis Hotel ever since. The Curtis family was responsible for much of the hotel’s ensuing success, and William O. Curtis and his son, William D. Curtis, were active members of the community. The loss of the County Court in 1868 had little impact on business at the Curtis, which by this time was catering to a growing number of seasonal visitors. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, and accelerating rapidly after the Civil War, a stream of visitors came from New York, Boston, and other cities to experience the healthful climate, take in the views from its veranda, and join in the social activities that took place there. Many guests returned year after year: some, desiring more space and privacy than the hotel rooms afforded, rented houses on Main and Walker Streets, also owned by the Curtis’s. These became known as “Curtis Cottages” and their occupants as “cottagers”; this has been cited as the origin of the term “cottagers” to describe wealthy summer residents in Berkshire.
By the final decade of the 19th Century the Curtis served as overflow housing for owners of large estates, or was used by the estate-owners themselves before and after the “season” when their homes were not fully staffed. The building was greatly enlarged in 1883 and again in 1898 to accommodate these patrons.
The Curtis family continued to operate the hotel through the 1930’s, but he decline of summer visitors to Lenox (brought about by the institution of the income tax and the stock market crash of 1929, which made the upkeep of a large estate nearly impossible; and the Depression of the 1930’s which restricted the traveling of most Americans) made the business difficult to keep up, and the building was sold after World War II. Although subsequent owners kept it operational as a marginally successful hotel, the building suffered from some neglect and deterioration. After failed attempts to revitalize the hotel by new owners in 1970 and 1976, the town of Lenox acquired the building in 1979 and converted it to use as housing for the elderly, with retail space on the first floor.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
1976 Berkshire Week publication July 30-Aug. 5, 1976
History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Joseph E. A. Smith, 1885, p. 219.
Taghconic: or Letters and legends about our Summer Home
Lenox – Massachusetts Shire Town. David H. Wood, 1969.
Lenox Assessor’s database 2011
[1] Henry F. Withey, AIA and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased)(Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970) p. 264.
[2] Berkshire Athenaeum/Pittsfield Library, History Department, Architects file.
[3] Henry F. Withey, AIA and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased)(Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970) p 264.
[4] Massachusetts Cultural Resource Inventory System (MACRIS) online at: <http://mhc-macris.net>
[5] Berkshire Athenaeum/Pittsfield Library, History Department, Architects file.
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Gothic Vernacular style building which took its form from the Greek Revival houses of the 1830’s and 1840’s. Houses like this one were probably built throughout Lenox in the second half of the nineteenth century, but most have been lost to fire or demolished to make way for newer, more elaborate structures.
It has two stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It has a front gable roof, wood frame, wood clapboard siding, and a 1.5-story rear ell. There is a 1-story shed-roofed left side ell (added after 1911, before 1939). The attic window has a peaked header and scroll sawn decoration at the edges of the sill. The original or early 6-o-6 windows are intact on the 2nd floor front façade. There is a stone foundation, and the entrance porch to the 2nd floor has a front gable roof with an arched ceiling and two slender posts.
If this is truly the same house that is depicted on the NE corner of Main & Franklin on the 1854 Clark & 1876 Beers maps, then c. 1850 is an appropriate year of construction and the size & footprint has been greatly modified. The current footprint is depicted on the 1893 Sanborn Map.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
This house originally stood on the Lenox-Pittsfield Turnpike (Main Street), where it was built by Franklin Washburn. It is known that a home existed in that location as of the late 1830’s. This home housed part of the Washburn family who with 65 descendants from Jacob and Phebe Washburn made up a considerable part of the Lenox Population. Phebe was the daughter of Samuel Northrup, brother of Col. Elijah Northrup. It is assumed that Franklin St. was named in recognition of Franklin Washburn since the street was unnamed until his death.
The house was moved (c. 1900) approximately 60 feet by Louis Regnier to its present location. The property was divided into three parts: The house; a colonial hall building; the corner of Franklin and Main where Louis Regnier built Regnier Block containing at least three stores. Despite later alterations, as of 1982, the attic and basement retained the original hand-hewn beams.
The property was purchased by Christos Grigoropoulos in 1982.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Registry of Deeds
Maps 1841, 1876, 1890, 1904.
1854 Clark Map and 1893 Sanborn Map.
County Atlas of Berkshire, Mass. F.W. Beers, 1876
Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass. Hamilton Child, 1885
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
NoteThis house as well as are examples of another historic preservation problem — the house remains but is altered in such a way as to no longer have any historic integrity.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Greek Vernacular style building has 1.5 stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been significantly altered. It has a 3-bay, center entrance, wood frame and full front porch with hipped roof. Changes include: 2 sets of 3 6-o-6 windows on 1st floor front façade; small fanlight attic window in front gable added or replaced original window; handicapped access ramp to right side entry.
A low stone wall along front property line is an extension of stone wall in front of 15 Franklin St.
This 1 ½ story gable-front house is an example of a vernacular form found throughout the country. The 6/6 window sash indicates that this house was probably built before 1850, although houses of this type were built through the end of the 19th century.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
In the 1840’s Henry Cook divided up some meadow land to sell as house lots. In 1848 he sold this lot to George Walker and in the deed it was noted that the house was then occupied by Rev. Henry Nick, who may have been the Methodist minister. The Methodist Church at that time was located at the corner of Church and Franklin streets, so this house may have been used as a parsonage.
The lot also had an early system of water transportation through subterranean pipes, which carried water from a spring-fed cistern on Cook’s property. The deed for this house mentions these pipes and notes that the buyer of the house was responsible for helping to repair and rebuild them is necessary.
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Craftsman style building has 1.5 stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It has 3-bays, wood frame, front gable roof with exposed, curved rafter ends on sides and dormers. It has shed roofed broken-eave dormers on both sides, paired windows on the 2nd floor front façade and a concrete block foundation.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
The following assessment was done in 2011 by Jill Fisher of Larson-Fisher Associates.
The date of this style building and story of it being moved may be apocryphal as it is not supported by depictions on historic maps. The building is not on 1876 Beers Map on the ascribed lot of W. Ware. While a 1.5-story accessory building in this location is shown on the 1898 Sanborn map, it is gone by 1905 per Sanborn maps, nor are there any other buildings on the 1911 Sanborn that match this style building in footprint or height but the building is depicted on the 1939 Sanborn map.
The following is taken from a January 19, 1988 letter from Marcia Brown to Bruce Evenchik who purchased the property in December, 1987. This information has been put into question by Jill Fisher’s 2011 assessment.
In the late 1800’s the block was called Tillotson’s Livery. There was a house on the Mobil Gas site and directly behind was this building which was a cape in style (the site would have been in the vicinity of the Knights of Columbus brick building)a. In the early 1900’s the building was moved from the Knights of Columbus site to its present site around 1915-1925 and made into an office and possibly a grain store.
This was originally a gable-front vernacular house, which was remodeled as a feed and grain store in the 1880’s. At that time the false front was added. The windows contain 6/6 sash, indicating that the building may date from 1850.
From Surveys Completed 2011-2012 by the Lenox Historical Commission
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
This Colonial Revival style building has 1.5 stories, an asphalt shingle roof and has been altered. It is a 2-bay; wood frame with front gable roof with cornice returns. There is a brick center chimney, a cornice between the 2nd floor and attic, a full front porch (rebuilt) with turned posts, and millwork railing. The large picture window is left of the front entrance. There is a 1-story rear ell with secondary entrance on the right side. There are paired 2nd floor windows and broken-eave gable dormers on both the left and right sides.
This simple vernacular house has some decorative elements that show the influence of late 19th century eclectic styles, such as the paired windows in the front gable, the turned porch supports and cornice molding that forms a triangular pediment in the gable.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
The house is 1st depicted on the 1911 Sanborn map. If it had been moved to this site, it could be older, but inspection of interior would be needed to ascribe an earlier date than 1906.
This house was built on a portion of the lot owned by Lorenzo Crockett and was constructed after Crockett’s sons Keziah and Wellington sold the bulk of the lot and house standing on it (25 Franklin St) to Matthew Colbert in 1896. A 1904 atlas lists Mrs. Crockett as the owner, so it seems likely that this house was built for her by her sons after her husband’s death.
This was one of the many lots sold by Henry H. Cook in the 1840’s as a building lot. Although the adjoining property mentions subterranean pipes, the deeds on this property during the 1850’s make no mention of them.
This house however, between 1850’s – 1872 housed colorful characters. In 1872 Keziah Crockett bought the house and lot for $1.00 at public auction from Daniel Kendall, the guardian of Freeman Gates. Freeman Gates was declared insane by the court and could no longer hold onto the property. During the time F. Gates owned the property it was sold to Martin Sadler, but no deed was ever received so poor Martin lost out on a house.
1848 Henry Gook sold to William F. Gates, willed to Freeman Gates
1872 Keziah Crockett
1905 Mary E. Bull
1920 August & Catherine Roy( 393,596)
1937 Lenox Savings Bank foreclose mortgage
1941 August A. Roy (491,591)
1941 Catherine Ze G. Beneat (497,251)
1968 Thomas & Amber Sullivan (870,399)
1969 Raymond & Edna Amnett (880,17)
1990 Christine S. Ford
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
1911 Sanborn Map
Registry of Deeds, Pittsfield, MA 298,129, 393.596, 491.251, 870.399, 880.17
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 is intact. It is a 3-bay, wood frame with a front gable roof, brick interior chimney and wood clapboard siding. The front porch wraps to the right side and the building has 2-over-2 windows.
A modest gable-front house, similar to those built in Lenox throughout the second half of the 19th century. The wrap-around porch is a characteristic method of expanding this type of house, and was probably added after the building’s completion.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
“M. Sadler” on 1854 Clark Map. “K. Crocket” on 1876 Beers Map with rectangular footprint. The present footprint is depicted on the 1893, 1898 & 1905 Sanborn Maps.
This house was built on one of the lots sold by Henry Cook in the 1840’s, when he subdivided his meadowland. Freeman Gates purchased the property in 1848, and built this house shortly thereafter. The house subsequently passed to his son, William Freeman Gates, who in 1872 was declared insane by the court and was no longer allowed to hold property. Daniel Kendall, appointed his guardian, was empowered to sell “all interests of Gates (it being a bare legal title therein the same real estate having been purchased by Martin Sadler in the lifetime of Freeman Gates and paid for but not deeded by reason of some neglect or oversight)”. Perhaps because of the dubious nature of Gate’s ownership, the highest bid on the property was one dollar, submitted by Lorenzo D. Crockett and his son Keziah. The Crocketts ran the stagecoach service from Pittsfield to Lenox, and retained ownership of the house until 1896, when they sold it to Matthew J. Colbert, keeping part of the lot as a site for a new house (21 Franklin St.).
The property was purchased by Mary V. McDermott on November 28, 1989.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
1854 Clark Map, 1876 Beers Map, 1893, 1898 and 1905 Sanborn Maps
Registry of Deeds, Pittsfield, MA 128.135, 217.1, 298.129
After many years of neglect, this typical village house was judged unsafe in 2010 and demolished despite being in the Lenox Historic District. This demolition alters the look of the neighborhood and illustrates the challenges of preserving small houses that are not architecturally significant in themselves but contribute to the overall historic integrity of a neighborhood.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE:
The following information is from the 01/31/1987 Form B.
Matthew and Mary Colbert bought this property from Henry Cook in 1853, although the deed was lost or mislaid and the transaction was not recorded until 1857. This building is identified on the 1876 atlas as a shop, and may have been the blacksmith shop of Thomas Colbert, listed in the 1885 directory as a blacksmith and horseshoer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES:
Atlas of Berkshire County, Mass. F.W. Beers, 1876
Registry of Deeds, Pittsfield, MA 153.236
Gazatteer of Berkshire County, Mass. Hamilton Child, 1885
