Day: July 30, 2011

Octagon at Amherst College (1847)

by Dan//Amherst, Collegiate, Octagon

A distinctive building on the campus of Amherst College is the Octagon. Built in 1847-1848 and designed by Henry A Sykes, its wood exterior walls were covered in stucco, originally scored and painted to resemble large blocks. College president Edward Hitchcock requested that the building have an octagon shape, a decision that was initially controversial. The Octagon originally housed the Woods Cabinet, the College’s scientific collection, and the Lawrence Observatory. The attached octagonal tower contained the observatory telescope. An 1855 addition housed a geology lecture room and a galley for the College’s Assyrian reliefs. After a new observatory was built in 1905, the Octagon housed other departments. In 1934-1935, the second floor of the Woods Cabinet was remodeled by architect James Kellum Smith as a meeting room, known as the Babbott Room.

Jones Library, Amherst (1928)

by Dan//Amherst, Colonial Revival, Libraries

Jones Library, 43 Amity Street in Amherst, was begun in 1927 and dedicated in 1928. An earlier library had been located in the town hall. The Jones Library, named for its benefactor, Samuel Minot Jones, was incorporated in 1919. From 1921 to 1926, the library rented rooms in the Amherst House, which stood at the corner of South Pleasant and Amity Streets. After the Amherst House burned down in 1926, the library briefly moved its operations into the Whipple House on North Pleasant Street, until the current library building, built of Pelham field stone, was completed. The Jones Library has notable collections of material relating to Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost.