The facade of the Ireland-Emery House, at 131 Federal Street in Salem, does not face the street but instead fronts a yard on the west side. The house, which was built around 1797, is named for Jonathan Ireland, a blacksmith for whom it was erected, and Samuel Emery, a nautical instrument dealer and compass maker, active in Salem between 1809 and 1868, who acquired the house in 1828. The bay window above the front door is a later addition.
The William T. Pickering House, at 343 Essex Street, at the corner of Botts Court, in Salem, was built before 1736. It was later owned by members of the Botts family.
One of the most historic buildings on the campus of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst is the Old Chapel. This campus icon is a Richardsonian Romanesque structure, constructed of gray Pelham granite with Longmeadow brownstone trim. Designed by Stephen C. Earle, it was built in 1884-1886, when UMASS was the Massachusetts Agricultural College. It originally had a library on the first floor, a chapel above and a museum for the College’s natural history collection In 1935, the building was renovated by the WPA to house the History and English Departments. Later, it was home for the Department of Music and Performing Arts, and for the UMass Marching Band, which left the building in 1996. Since then, the interior has remained vacant, although the exterior of the Chapel was restored in 1997-1999. This included a complete re-building of the bell tower, with damaged stones being replaced by granite from the original Pelham quarry, which is still owned by Umass, and brownstone from a quarry in Utah. Continue reading “Old Chapel, UMASS (1885)”
The Scott House in Amherst, built in 1793, is the oldest building operated by Amherst College. Built as a tavern, it has been owned by the College since 1924. It was recently renovated, with the interior space being redesigned and modernized. An earlier rear addition to the house and old outbuildings were demolished and the vegetation, which concealed the house from the road, was also removed.
Barrett Hall, on the campus of Amherst College, was built as Barrett Gymnasium in 1859-1860. Amherst College had the first department of Physical Education in the country. Constructed of Pelham granite, the gymnasium was designed by Boston architect Charles E. Parkes and was named for Dr. Benjamin Barrett of Northampton, who made the largest financial contribution towards building and fully equipping it. The building served as a gym until Pratt Gymnasium was built in 1883. In 1907, Barrett Hall was converted to become the home of the modern languages department.
Solomon Boltwood built the house at 243 Amity Street in Amherst around 1745. His brother, Samuel, built the Boltwood-Stockbridge House on the UMASS campus. Solomon Boltwood was the grandfather of Elijah Boltwood, proprietor of the famous Boltwood Tavern.
The dating for the house at 257 Main Street in Amherst, across the street from the Dickinson Homestead, is a little confusing based on the sources immediately available to me. The 2005 guidebook to the Dickinson Historic District describes it as the Cyrus Kingman House, built in the 1850s. Cyrus Kingman was a businessman who established himself in Pelham and then moved to Amherst in 1850, when he purchased the general store that stood where the Town Hall is today. Kingman’s daughters, Martha and Ellen Mary, school friends of Emily Dickinson, died within two weeks of each other in 1851. The surviving daughter, Jane Juliette., and Kingman himself died in 1854. His widow was still living in the house in the early 1870s. Zillow.com has a date for the house of 1878. While Zillow dates are not always accurate, the 1870s seems a more likely period for a house built in the Stick style. Today the house is a bed & breakfast called the Amherst Inn.
