Garden Tool Shed, Hancock Shaker Village (1922)

by Dan//Hancock, Outbuildings, Vernacular

Garden Tool Shed, Hancock Shaker Village

The Garden Tool Shed at Hancock Shaker Village was originally built as a screened-in structure in 1922 where the Shaker Sisters could relax and drink tea. Such a building, intended for recreation, would never have been built by the more austere earlier shakers. Moved in 1961 to serve as the ticket booth of the Hancock Shaker Village museum, it was later relocated to the foundations of an old tool shed and is now used by the museum’s garden staff. Continue reading “Garden Tool Shed, Hancock Shaker Village (1922)”

1910 Barn, Hancock Shaker Village (1910)

by Dan//Hancock, Outbuildings, Vernacular

1910 Barn

The 1910 barn at Hancock Shaker Village was built on the stone foundations of an 1880 barn that had been destroyed by fire after it was struck by lightning on August 2. 1910. An even earlier calf barn on the site had been destroyed by fire in 1879. The new barn was constructed for the Shakers by the firm of Osteyee Brothers using concrete with an exterior stuccoed in cement and a slate roof, all to prevent future fires. A wooden dairy ell for Holstein cows was added in 1939 and the Hancock Shaker Village museum has reconstructed an attached equipment shed that had been demolished in the early 1960s.

Additions to 1910 barnOn the right is the 1939 dairy ell and on the left is the reconstructed equipment shed.

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Pittsfield (1890)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Pittsfield

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

The original St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Pittsfield was built in 1832 near to the Town Hall. When Allen Street was being opened up through its original property, the parish purchased land next door and constructed its current church in 1889-1890. Designed by Peabody & Stearns, St. Stephen’s was constructed of Longmeadow red sandstone. It’s design was no doubt influenced by the Gothic Revival style of the nearby First Congregational Church. Both churches have stained glass windows designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Mary Elizabeth Tillinghast. Services in the church began in 1890 and St. Stephen’s was consecrated by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, on November 19, 1892. The Parish House at the rear of the church, built in 1916, was expanded in 1956. The church underwent major renovations in 1984.

William Haven House (1860)

by Dan//Houses, Northampton, Queen Anne

13 Park Street, Florence

The house at 13 Park Street in the village of Florence in Northampton was built around 1860 as a cape cod-style house. It was altered in the Queen Anne style around 1900, when the dormer windows and porch with gazebo were added. This remodeling was done by owner Henry Haven, who in 1870 had purchased the house from the heirs of William Haven, its original owner (William Haven had purchased the lot in 1858). Henry Haven was treasurer and general manager of Florence Furniture Company.

Clinton Savings Bank (1929)

by Dan//Banks, Clinton, Colonial Revival

Clinton Savings Bank

The Colonial Revival bank building at 200 Church Street in Clinton was built in 1929 to house the Clinton Savings Bank. Founded in 1851, the bank was originally located at Lancaster Mills, then at the building at 195 Union Street (now the Museum of Russian Icons), and then it shared the 1881 building at 79 High Street with the First National Bank of Clinton, which became the Clinton Trust Co. in 1919. Demand for more space led to the construction of the new building, which was expanded and renovated in the 1980s.

Sawyer Memorial Library (1904)

by Dan//Boylston, Craftsman, Libraries

Sawyer Memorial Library, Boylston

The Boylston Social Library was founded in the town of Boylston in 1792 as a private organization. In 1880 its librarian, George L. Wright, persuaded the members to donate the collection to the town, to start a public library. Wright was also the town’s historian. Located for a time in the Town Hall, the library constructed its own building, at 695 Main Street, in 1904. It was built of field stone on the site where the second meeting house of Boylston’s Congregational Church stood between 1793 to 1835, followed by the second Centre School House, built in 1841. Funding for the new library was provided by Miss Salome E. White of Brooklyn, NY and it was named in memory of her mother, Mrs. Harriet Sawyer White. The Craftsman-style library was designed by Fuller & Delano of Worcester.