Berkshire Life Insurance Company (1868)

by Dan//Commercial, Neoclassical, Pittsfield, Renaissance Revival

Berkshire Life Building

The corner of North and West Streets in Pittsfield was the site of the Berkshire Hotel from the 1820s to 1866. In 1868, the headquarters of the Berkshire Life Insurance Company was built here (current address: 5-7 North Street). The building as it exists today was constructed in three stages. The first section, designed by Louis Weissbein of Boston, had a basement level below three floors and a Mansard roof with gable windows. In 1911, the Mansard roof was removed and two additional stories were added by Joseph McArthur Vance of Pittsfield. In 1927, the building was extended to the west with a new addition by Henry Seaver of Pittsfield. Berkshire Life, founded in 1851, left the building to move to a new headquarters in 1959. In 2001, Berkshire Life merged with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.
Here are links to some historic images of this building:

Friends Meeting House, Adams (1782)

by Dan//Adams, Churches, Colonial

Friends Meeting House

In the 1760s, Quakers, mostly from the area of Smithfield, Rhode Island, began to settle in the area that would be incorporated as the Town of Adams in 1778. In 1781, the East Hoosuck Meeting of the Society of Friends was established. The following year the Society began construction of the Quaker (Friends) Meeting House at the corner of Friend and Maple Streets in Adams. The building, which took four years to build, is located in Maple Street Cemetery, where many Quakers are buried. The building‘s plainness reflected the religious ideas of the Quakers, who shunned ostentatious display and followed a code of strict simplicity. In 1827 the Society was split between the orthodox believers and the followers of Edward Hicks. Many Quakers began to move west in search of better economic opportunities. The Society of Friends held their last official meeting in the old Meeting House in 1842. A number of images of the building can be found here. Continue reading “Friends Meeting House, Adams (1782)”

Meetinghouse, Hancock Shaker Village (1793)

by Dan//Churches, Colonial, Hancock

The Meetinghouse, Hancock Shaker Village

The original Meetinghouse at Hancock Shaker Village was built in 1786. To gain more space, its first roof, a gambrel, was altered to a gable roof in 1871. By the late nineteenth century, the Shakers primarily used the meeting room in the Brick Dwelling for worship services. In the early twentieth century the Meetinghouse was being used for storage. It was taken down in 1938. In 1962, after Hancock Shaker Village became a museum, it acquired the Meetinghouse from the former Shaker Village in Shirley. The Shirley Meetinghouse was then moved to Hancock. Built in 1793 by by Moses Johnson, who had constructed the Hancock Meetinghouse (among many others), the Shirley Meetinghouse is the only eighteenth-century Shaker Meetinghouse to remain unaltered in its original firm.

Trustees’ Office and Store, Hancock Shaker Village (1813)

by Dan//Commercial, Organizations, Pittsfield, Victorian Eclectic

Trustees' Office and Store

In 1813, the Shakers of Hancock constructed a building, the Trustees’ Office, in which to conduct business and accommodate visitors from what they referred to as “The World.” Part of Hancock Shaker Village, it is located just across the border from Hancock in Pittsfield (the town line passes through the eastern end of the village). In 1852 the Shakers more than doubled the size of the original building by extending it to the south. It was also reoriented to face west. A kitchen ell was added in 1876, which joined the Office to a woodshed to the east. The entire structure was completely altered in an eclectic Victorian style in 1895. There was also a gift shop/fancy goods store in the building. The Office was home to the Trustee and Central Ministry Eldress Mary Frances Hall (b. 1876) until her death in 1957. Continue reading “Trustees’ Office and Store, Hancock Shaker Village (1813)”

Sisters’ Dairy and Weave Shop, Hancock Shaker Village (1790)

by Dan//Hancock, Industrial, Outbuildings, Vernacular

Sisters' Dairy and Weave Shop

Probably built in the 1790s, the Sisters’ Dairy and Weave Shop at Hancock Shaker Village is where the Shaker Sisters produced butter and cheese. It was constructed over a natural spring which provided cold water used to cool the milk products. The second floor of the building was added after 1820 and used as a weave loft, where the Sisters made clothing, rugs and bonnets.

Continue reading “Sisters’ Dairy and Weave Shop, Hancock Shaker Village (1790)”

Brethren’s Shop, Hancock Shaker Village (1813)

by Dan//Hancock, Industrial, Outbuildings, Vernacular

Brethren's Shop

Each male Shaker was expected to practice one or more trades. Built circa 1813, the Brethren’s Shop at Hancock Shaker Village was one of several buildings used as a workshop by the brethren. Inside they made such products as chairs, baskets, shoes, brooms and the distinctive Shaker oval boxes. Paint analysis undertaken in 2007 led to the restoration of the color used when the building was painted yellow in 1845. Continue reading “Brethren’s Shop, Hancock Shaker Village (1813)”