Tag: UMASS

Old Chapel, UMASS (1885)

by Dan//Amherst, Collegiate, Romanesque Revival

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)”

West Experiment Station, UMASS (1887)

by Dan//Amherst, Collegiate, Queen Anne

Across from the East Experiment Station on the campus of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst is the West Experiment Station, built a few years earlier in 1886-1887. The building was designed by architect Emory Ellsworth and resembles a Queen Anne style house. The West Experiment Station, originally located on the northern fringe of campus, was built to serve and continues as the home of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now UMASS)’s chemical research division.

UPDATE: This building was recently moved and rebuilt as part of a major construction project.

East Experiment Station, UMASS (1890)

by Dan//Amherst, Collegiate, Romanesque Revival

The East Experiment Station was constructed in Amherst on the campus of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, now the University of Massachusetts, in 1889-1890. It was built with funds made available due to the Hatch Act of 1887, which provided federal funding for the benefit of State agricultural experiment stations. The Richardsonian Romanesque structure was designed by architect Emory Ellsworth and was a companion to his 1889 West Experiment Station. At one time the East Experiment Station, also known as the Hatch Experiment Station, had an attached shed and an ornate Victorian greenhouse, which was later removed. The building, which was built to house the Department of Vegetable Pathology, has been altered for other uses and currently is home to the offices of the University of Massachusetts Press.