First Congregational Church, South Hadley (1895)

by Dan//Churches, Romanesque Revival, South Hadley

While still a part of Hadley, South Hadley acquired its own minister and meeting house around 1733. When a new meeting house was built in 1761, a split occurred which eventually led to the erection of a separate meeting house in the eastern section of town, which became the town of Granby in 1768. A third church was built in 1815 and a fourth in 1875. This latter building was destroyed in the great fire of 1894. It was then replaced by the current building of the First Congregational Church.

Salem Towne House (1796)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Sturbridge

In the early nineteenth century, Salem Towne, Jr. was a businessman and a leader in public affairs in Charlton. In 1825, Towne inherited an impressive hipped-roof house, built for his father, Salem Towne, Sr., in 1796. The house had a ballroom on the second floor, later divided into bedchambers, that was used for Masonic meetings until 1806. The house’s builder was influenced by the illustrations in the 1792 American edition of William Pain’s Practical Builder, a guidebook of designs for English carpenters. The Salem Towne House was moved to Old Sturbridge Village in 1952 and the interior has recently been restored, with original colors and reproductions of period wallpapers.

Yin Yu Tang (1800)

by Dan//Houses, Salem, Vernacular

Yin Yu Tang (“Hall of Plentiful Shelter”) is a Qing Dynasty Chinese merchant’s house, built around 1800, which was moved to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem and reconstructed there in 1997-2002. The house was first built by a merchant of the Huang family in the village of Huang Cun, located in Xiuning County of the Huangshan Prefecture (a region traditionally known as Huizhou) in Anhui Province. Eight generations of the family lived in the house for nearly two centuries. By the 1980s, the house stood empty, as Huang family members had moved to other parts of the country. In 1996, family members decided to sell the house and the following year, Chinese authorities approved Yin Yu Tang’s move to the United States as part of a cultural exchange helping to protect and promote the architecture of the Huizhou region. It is now open to the public and contains original family furnishings. Also check out my post on the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden.

John Coburn House (1844)

by Dan//Boston, Federal, Houses

John P. Coburn (1811-1873), a free black resident of Beacon Hill in Boston, ran a clothing business and was a community activist. He was treasurer of the New England Freedom Association, which assisted fugitive slaves and, in 1852, he was a founder and captain of the Massasoit Guards, a black militia unit. In 1851, Coburn was arrested for his role in aiding Shadrach Minkins, a fugitive slave, in his escape from federal custody (he was later acquitted). John Coburn’s first house on Beacon Hill was located in a cul-de-sac off of Phillips Street at 3 Coburn Court. Dating to the 1830s, the house, now lost, was recognized in 2005 as one of Massachusetts’ most endangered historic resources. From 1844 until his death in 1873, Coburn lived in the house at 2 Phillips Street, which was designed for him by Asher Benjamin. The house is a site on the Black Heritage Trail.

College Hall, Amherst (1828)

by Dan//Amherst, Churches, Collegiate, Greek Revival

College Hall in Amherst was built in 1828-1829 as the third meeting house of the First Congregational Church of Amherst. It was built on land donated by Amherst College in return for the right to hold commencement and other ceremonies in the church. When a new Congregational church was built on Main Street in 1867-1868, the College purchased the old church building, which was expanded and remodeled (with the addition of new columns to the front) and rededicated in 1905. Continue reading “College Hall, Amherst (1828)”

Porter Hall, Mount Holyoke College (1897)

by Dan//Collegiate, South Hadley, Tudor Revival

A fire destroyed the original seminary building of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley in 1896. One of the first new structures to be built after the fire was Porter Hall, a residence hall completed in 1897. Porter Hall was designed by C. Putnam Karr and was named for Deacon Porter, who was in charge of buildings on the College’s Board of Trustees and was a friend and adviser to the College’s founder Mary Lyon. Continue reading “Porter Hall, Mount Holyoke College (1897)”

Wistariahurst (1868)

by Dan//Holyoke, Houses, Second Empire

William Skinner, who left England for America at the age of nineteen in 1843, became a successful silk and saten manufacturer. The mills of Skinner’s company, the Unquomonk Silk Company in Williamsburg (where his employees lived in a community called Skinnerville), were destroyed when the Mill River Dam gave way on May 16, 1874. The Holyoke Water Power Company then offered Skinner a prime canal site, where he could rebuild his mill in Holyoke. They also offered him land to build a house and it was to there that he moved his home, called Wistariahurst, which he had built in 1868 and which had survived the flood. The house still stands at 238 Cabot Street in Holyoke. His company, called William Skinner and Sons after 1883, was continued by his sons after his death in 1902. It became the largest producer of satin linings in the world. The Skinner family were also great philantrophists: William Skinner supported various institutions in Holyoke and donated to Mount Holyoke and Vassar Colleges. His daughters, Belle and Katherine, founded the Skinner Coffee House to serve the needs of immigrants who worked in the mills and factories. The Skinner family sold the company in 1961. The house remained in the family until 1959, when Katharine Skinner Kilborne gave it to the city of Holyoke for cultural and educational purposes. It is open to the public for tours as the Wistariahurst Museum.