adaptive reuse new england

Old Stone Studio // c.1820

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One of the most significant buildings in the coastal town of Marion, Massachusetts, is this stone structure, which is said to have had its beginnings as a storage warehouse. Located on Spring Street north of the main village, this building was constructed as early as 1820 as a salt works storage facility, and is an extremely rare surviving storage facility associated with the early 19th century salt industry in town. While many storage facilities we know today are void of architecture and soul, this building looks like it was plucked from the French countryside, thanks to a late 19th century renovation by one of the most prestigious architects in the United States. The salt industry in Massachusetts began on Cape Cod during the Revolution. Salt was a vital necessity for the preservation and curing of fish and meat for sale in this country and overseas. According to local lore, the Old Stone Studio was originally “a place for the conversion of sea water into salt.” Around the Civil War, the building was being used for petroleum processing facility, where kerosene, which had supplanted whale oil as a fuel for home and street lamps, was made and stored. The old stone structure had fallen into disrepair by the 1880s, that was until New York magazine editor, Richard Watson Gilder bought and restored it as a studio for his wife, artist Helena de Kay Gilder. At this point, Marion had become a premier summer colony with large waterfront estates and recreational facilities built for the wealthy in Boston and New York to spend the warmer months. Gilder hired his friend, Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White, to update the warehouse into a studio, adding the multi-light windows, decorative ironwork, and interior details, including the massive stone fireplace with a nine-foot mantle. The fireplace provided a stunning backdrop for guests, including President Grover Cleveland and First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland, who summered in town. Ms. Gilder even painted the First Lady in the studio, and hosted her on occasions. The Old Stone Studio is now a private residence with addition off the rear.

The Moorings Observatory // 1902

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At the tip of Converse Point, a peninsula in Marion, Massachusetts, jutting into Buzzards Bay, a once great estate was built at the turn of the 20th century as the community saw many wealthy summer cottages built. One of these owners was Harry Elisha Converse (1863-1920), who purchased land here in 1898 and razed earlier cottages to build The Moorings Estate. Harry E. Converse was President of the Converse Rubber Company, which produced winterized rubber-soled shoes and boots and later shifted to make footwear for the military, and is today known simply as Converse, the internationally known footwear and apparel company. In 1902, Converse hired architect, Tristam Griffin to design his new summer “cottage”, the Moorings, which was said to be the largest residence in Buzzards Bay at the time and rivaled the size of many area hotels. Part of the estate included a carriage house, cottages for family and friends, and this building, which was constructed as a bell tower and observatory near the entrance of the property that provided sweeping views of the grounds and surrounding coast. The 40-foot tower was designed in the Shingle style like the main house and featured a one-ton bell at the top. It was eventually connected to electricity and later provided a fire alarm for the entire estate. After the death of Harry E. Converse in 1920, the property was conveyed to three of his children, who subdivided the property which became too much to maintain as a summer home. The former observatory was acquired by Parker Converse and later converted into a residence, by him or his son, Courtland Converse. The unique structure is a lasting remnant of what was once the largest estate in this part of Massachusetts.


McCormick Garage // 1907

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In the late 19th and early 20th century, Marion, Massachusetts, became an exclusive summer colony where wealthy families from cities would flock to soak up the sun and breathe fresh coastal air away from the heat and pollution of industrial centers at the time. One of these families was headed by Stanley Robert McCormick (1874-1947) of Chicago, the son of Cyrus McCormick, inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company which would later become the International Harvester Corporation. Stanley McCormick was married in 1904 to Katharine Dexter McCormick (1875-1967), also a member of a wealthy family, who would devote her life to advancing women’s causes, serving as the vice-president of the National American Women Suffrage Association and in 1920, co-founded the League of Women Voters. Katharine remained active in later life, funding new birth-control research and the building of an all-women’s dormitory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, named McCormick Hall. Soon after Stanley and Katharine married, they purchased waterfront property in Marion, where Stanley spent summers as a child, to build a summer residence for his own family. In 1906, Stanley purchased land on Lewis Street and hired the Boston architectural firm of Page & Frothingham, to design and oversee construction of a large brick “cottage” and this brick garage structure down the street with a residence for the driver. While their summer residence was being built, Stanley McCormick, like his sister Mary, was diagnosed with schizophrenia. In 1909 he was declared incompetent by the California Supreme Court and would live for the rest of his life at the McCormick estate, “Riven Rock,” in Santa Barbara, California. In 1929, his wife Katharine and Stanley’s brother Harold were named conservators of his estate, which exceeded $30 million. The McCormick estate in Marion was occupied by Katharine’s mother for a number of years with Katharine visiting many summers. The cottage property was eventually sold and demolished in 1953, and the old garage was converted to a home with additions to make the property a year-round residence.

Ryder Windmill House // c.1899

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Preservation and New England ingenuity at its finest can be found at this quirky residence on Spring Street in the charming community of Marion, Massachusetts. The unique home seen here was originally built around 1899 as a water tower and windmill on the estate of William H. H. Ryder (1841-1921), which generated power from the wind to pump water from a well below ground, providing a continuous supply of water to his residence. The structure was in use until 1907 when municipally supplied water became available in town. When William Ryder, who never married or fathered children died in 1921, the property was inherited by his niece, Harriet C. Ryder (1869-1943), who lived with her uncle and kept house for him. Financial struggles forced Harriet to sell the main house and convert the windmill into a small cottage in 1926. The structure was originally used as a summer cottage but was later expanded and made a year-round residence, with later owners maintaining the unique charm and form of this iconic local landmark.

Old Marion Meeting House – Marion General Store // 1799

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Tucked into the heart of Wharf Village, the main village in the charming coastal community of Marion, Massachusetts, this building which is known today as the Marion General Store, wears its history quietly beneath a deceptively simple Greek Revival facade. The structure was constructed in 1799 as Marion’s first Congregational Meeting House, where religious services of the congregational church were conducted before the separation of church and state. The construction of this wood-frame building did more than give the faithful a place to worship, it anchored Wharf Village as the commercial and civic center of town, setting in motion the currents that would eventually set Marion off from its mother-town, Rochester in 1852. By the 1830s, the old meeting house was in poor condition, and along with the push for a separation of church and state and tax dollars no longer going to the Congregational Church, a grander Greek Revival church was built across the street. The Old Meeting House was also renovated in the Greek Revival style and operated as Delano Hall, a store with dance hall and meeting space on the upper floor. The building lives on today as the Marion General Store, with its old clapboards and pilastes holding the layered history and architecture of the seaside community that grew up around it from working port town to wealthy coastal village.

Gamewell Fire Alarm and Telegraph Company Factory // 1889

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The Gamewell Fire Alarm and Telegraph Company traces its roots to the pioneering work of William Francis Channing and Moses Farmer of Boston, whose 1850s telegraph-based fire alarm system was the first practical fire alarm box system that consisted of telegraph-based boxes placed on street corners, which, when activated, sent a coded signal to a central fire station notifying them of a fire or emergency. The duo applied for a patent for their “Electromagnetic Fire Alarm Telegraph for Cities” which was later acquired by John Gamewell of South Carolina. Following the Civil War, Gamewell partnered with Kennard and Company and built a factory in Newton Highlands in 1873. The company would adopt the trademark of a fist gripping lightningbolts, and by 1886, the Gamewell system was operating in over 250 cities in the United States and Canada. As the company grew operations, the business moved to this site in the Upper Falls village in 1889, which was desirable for its close proximity to the railroad and markets all over the region. The first factory was the two-story wooden factory building completed in 1889, with later wings to its east (1904) and west (1912) as the company continued to expand into the 20th century. The Gamewell company remained here until the 1970’s when Gamewell became a division of Gulf and Western. Luckily, the former factory was restored by owners Alexandria Properties and architects, Kraus Associates, as Telegraph, which now offer retail and office space for small local businesses

Ralph Waldo Emerson School // 1904

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The Ralph Waldo Emerson School in Newton’s Upper Falls village was built in 1904 and dedicated a year later serving as the main school building in the industrial village. The brick school building was constructed adjacent to the Levi C. Wade School, a large Second Empire style wood-frame school constructed in 1869. The Wade School was razed for a 1950s addition to the Ralph Waldo Emerson School. The substantial school building was designed by the prominent architectural firm of Hartwell Richardson & Driver, at a time when the Upper Falls Village continued to expand due to the well-established cotton manufacturing mills and the Gamewell Fire Alarm Company. The large structure is hard to classify architecturally, as it blends elements of the Renaissance Revival, Arts & Crafts and Classical Revival styles, but with its massive chimneys, hipped roof with projecting eaves, and large arched windows, the building is an architectural statement for the relatively vernacular industrial village it is located in. By the end of the 20th century, school enrollments and consolidation of village schools saw the closing of the Emerson School, but luckily, the building lives on after it was converted to condominiums, with the 1955 addition now serving as a day care center, a senior citizen room and gymnasium-hall for the community. 

Old Chocorua Village Schoolhouse // c.1880

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This historic one-room schoolhouse can be found in Chocorua Village in the town of Tamworth, New Hampshire, and is a rare Stick style example of its type. The one-room schoolhouse was built around 1880 for the village and was one about 19 district schoolhouses in the town of Tamworth, all servicing remote villages for area children. The school eventually closed when consolidated schools took over in the 20th century, and this charming Victorian schoolhouse has since been converted to a private residence with rear wings added.

Former Ashland Junior High School // 1877

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The former Ashland Junior High School stands on a rise overlooking Ashland’s village center, on School Street just east of the entrance to the modern Ashland Elementary School. It is a three-story brick building designed in the Second Empire style and is topped by a mansard roof. The exterior is little changed from its original construction, although the interior has been subjected to period modernization after decades of vacancy and conversion to offices. The school was built in 1877 in response to the poor conditions of Ashland District Schools at the time. The school was closed in 1990, and the town voted to demolish it in 2000. The building was listed in the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance’s Seven to Save in 2007. A community effort rescued the building from that fate, thanks to the Ashland Historical Society which advocated for the sale of the building and subsequent restoration by the Tri-County Community Action Program, which occupies the building to this day. Preservation wins!

Scribner Mill // 1880

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The Scribner Mill building in Ashland stands as an architecturally and historically significant industrial building that tells the story of the community as a manufacturing center of the lakes region of New Hampshire. Built in 1880 by owner Ambrose Scribner, the brick structure served as a hosiery factory and is a late example of a mill building in the Second Empire architecture style. Owners today have spruced up the building which had previously been left vacant, to rent as office and light manufacturing space by Minus33, a merino wool apparel brand, and the purchased helps to reclaiming the important textile heritage of New England. The building retains its iconic mansard roof, brick corbeled cornice and entry tower, though many window remain boarded up.

Ashland Freight Station // c.1850

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The railroad arrived to Ashland, New Hampshire (then a part of Holderness) in 1849, which connected the industrial village to Concord for both freight and passenger service. The first Ashland Station, this building, opened as a combined passenger and freight station of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad, which was chartered by the State of New Hampshire in 1844. Construction of its initial 93-mile track through largely agricultural, rural, and mountainous territory began in 1846 and concluded in 1853, when the railroad reached its terminus in Wells River, Vermont. Over time, the railroad expanded and acquired branch railroads, connecting it to routes all over the northeast. As manufacturing flourished in Ashland, the town grew, which necessitated the demand for a larger passenger station for the railroad. Additionally, in 1869, this structure was remodeled to handle increased freight. As trucking overtook rail service for freight, this station closed after WWII, and sat vacant until it was purchased and converted to an artist studio and shop.

Faulkner Mill // 1880

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The manufacture of woolen goods was introduced in North Billerica by Francis Faulkner in 1811 on the bend of the Concord River. Francis Faulkner was the son of Colonel Francis Faulkner of Acton, one of the leading citizens of that town, who participated in the battles of Lexington and Concord and served throughout the Revolutionary War. When Francis Faulkner arrived in North Billerica, he began to manufacture woolen goods and expanded to coloring and dressing cloths. Mr. Faulkner would be joined by his sons, James and Luther, and was called the James R. Faulkner & Company. James Robbins Faulkner took over his father’s business, which expanded greatly after the Civil War. In 1880, the firm incorporated as the Faulkner Manufacturing Company, and they had the largest wing, this main block, added to the mill complex. The main building is an interpretation of the Romanesque Revival style and stands three stories tall and is notable for the four-story stair and water cistern tower with arched base. Sometime after 1914, the property was organized as the North Billerica Company and by 1935, a total of 135 employees were engaged in manufacturing wool blankets and cloth. Despite additions to the factory in the 1940s and again in the early 1960s, foreign competition forced the mill to close about 1987, leaving the buildings vacant with its future uncertain. Luckily, the Faulkner Mill is now home to a variety of small businesses and the Middlesex Canal Museum.

Abbott-Bowers House // 1796

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The Abbott-Bowers House at on Boston Road in Billerica Center was built in 1796 and stands as a significant Federal period residence in town, though suffers from deferred maintenance. The building was constructed for James Abbott, a merchant who likely operated a store from the street-side entrance. The property was owned later by Jonathan Bowers, the first Postmaster in Billerica and his home served as the Post office for over 100 years. Many other organizations and committees have also been run out of the building. The residence is five-bays wide on all elevations and has a hipped roof with tall end chimneys and what appear to be the original windows. The building recently sold and is planned for a new commercial use, hopefully with a restoration of the exterior.

Former Billerica Town Hall – Billerica Public Library // 1895

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Located on the edge of the Town Common in Billerica, Massachusetts, this handsome civic building stands as one of the community’s best examples of the Colonial Revival style. The building was constructed in 1895 to replace the mid-19th century Town Hall that was destroyed by fire in 1893. The community hosted a design competition, where prominent firms from the Boston area submitted designs, and ultimately selected the plans from the firm of Warren & Bacon, led by Herbert Langford Warren and Lewis H. Bacon, who had a short-lived business partnership lasting just one year. The symmetrical, two-story brick building is trimmed with limestone and capped with a gray slate roof. The facade is embellished with a Palladianesque arched loggia sheltering the entrances with a centrally placed Palladian window above on the second floor. Additionally, the roof is adorned by a Christopher Wren inspired cupola with a gold leaf dome capped with a weathervane. The building functioned as the Town Hall with offices and a grand hall on the second floor for city meetings until the town hall relocated in 1979 to a former school building. Since 2000, the former Town Hall of Billerica has housed the Billerica Public Library, which was formerly located in a smaller historic building nearby.

Edgartown Town Hall – Old Edgartown Methodist Church // 1828

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Edgartown, the historic whaling harbor village, is Martha’s Vineyard’s first colonial settlement and has prospered as one of the best-preserved collections of 19th century architecture in the United States. The streets of Edgartown’s village are lined by historic residences, shops and churches built by and for prosperous whaling captains and preserved today as part of New England’s elite summer destinations. Presently occupied by the local government of Edgartown as its Town Hall, this handsome Federal style building on Main Street was originally used as the community’s first purpose-built Methodist Church. Methodism on Martha’s Vineyard began after 1787, when a vessel commanded by Capt. Thomas Luce arrived to the island containing two stowaways escaping enslavement in Virginia; John Saunders and Priscilla, his wife. They were slaves to a Virginia planter, and both were zealous christians, and Methodist speakers, who helped foster a larger community on island. A methodist church was established in Edgartown in a building shared with Baptists until this handsome building was constructed in 1828 by local architect and builder, Frederick Baylies Jr. Just fifteen years later, the town grew in population and wealth and the local Methodists felt it necessary to build a much larger church, now known as the Old Whaling Church in 1843. This building was acquired by the Town in the 1840s and converted to a town hall with space for a fire engine and police. More recently, the building served as the fictional town hall of “Amity” in the 1975 film, Jaws, where the infamous chalkboard scratch scene took place.