adaptive reuse new england

Ames Manufacturing Company Complex // 1847+

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Until the early 19th century, Chicopee, Massachusetts, was little more than an agricultural district of Springfield (from which it separated in 1848). Several early mills began to harness the power of a 50-foot drop-off in the Chicopee River, but it was not until the introduction of outside capital from Boston-based industrialists, that Chicopee became an industrial powerhouse. The Dwight textile mills which quickly developed required a wide variety of related manufactures. Edmund Dwight, owner of the Dwight Mills procured brothers Nathan Peabody Ames and James Tyler Ames to relocate their edge tool business from Chelmsford to Chicopee, they did. In 1834, the Ames Manufacturing Company was incorporated with a capital of $30,000 and buildings were erected along the Chicopee River, just east of the Dwight Mills. By 1835, the company was creating works in brass and bronze, and in 1845, an iron foundry was added. The company used the foundries for casting statuary and producing cannons and cannonballs for the US Military. Additionally, the bronze doors of the East Wing of the United States Capitol, Daniel Chester French‘s Minuteman statue at the Lexington-Concord bridge and the large equestrian statue of George Washington at the Boston Public Garden were cast at the Ames Factory. After a period of decay in the latter half of the 20th century, the largest buildings of the complex were restored and converted to housing, today known as Ames Privilege.

Former Chicopee Public Library // 1911

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Tucked to the side of the towering City Hall building on Market Square in Chicopee, Massachusetts, this long-vacant former public library is undergoing a major renovation to convert the building to a business incubator and community hub. The library was built in 1911 and was designed by the Springfield architectural firm of Kirkham & Parlett and is a great example of a Classical Revival style civic building with its strict symmetry, Ionic columned and pedimented entrance, and corner quoins. The original town library was organized as early as 1846 under the name “Cabot Institute” a subscription-based library. In 1853, the Cabot Institute donated its collection of nine hundred books to form a public library. The town voted that year to support a public library from tax dollars, making the Chicopee Public Library the first library funded by public funds in Western Massachusetts. The library was located in the City Hall building when it was completed in 1871, and was later moved out of the building to make space for the Board of Aldermen offices. In 1907, Mrs. Sarah Cooley Spaulding bequeathed $20,000 in her will towards a new library building as a memorial to her late husband, Justin Spaulding, and in May 1913, the Chicopee Library opened its first building built solely for the purpose of being a library. The library was expanded in the latter half of the 20th century and ultimately outgrew its space, with the City building a new library in 2004 on Front Street. This library closed at that time and had sat vacant until plans were unveiled to re-imagine this significant building as a community hub. I love to see old buildings repurposed rather than demolished!

Hotel Essex – Plymouth Rock Building // 1900

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The construction of a new South Station Terminal in 1899, prompted a development boom for the nearby area, which had for the previous decades been almost entirely mercantile and centered around the leather and woolen industries. Due to increased land values and an influx of travelers to the area, developers saw an opportunity to erect this building to serve as a hotel for visitors to Boston via South Station. Boston architect, Arthur H. Bowditch, furnished plans for this building in the Beaux Arts/Renaissance Revival style, with use of brick and limestone construction, ornate finishes at the façade including the fluted pilasters, arches and cartouches in the spandrels. The building was completed in 1900 and known as Hotel Essex and featured a long, storied history as a hotel until it closed in the second half of the 20th century. After years of deteriorating conditions, the building was adapted as the corporate offices for Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation in 1982. The building was restored and has been known as the Plymouth Rock Building ever since.

Cornwall Hollow Baptist Church // 1844

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During the nineteenth century several small, rural settlements dotted the landscape of Cornwall, Connecticut. The hamlet of Cornwall Hollow this building, the Baptist Church, and contained a tannery, store, gristmill, sawmill and cemetery. The church at Cornwall Hollow was erected following dissolution of the Baptist congregation at nearby Cream Hill in 1843. A new church constitution was adopted in 1844 and this new meetinghouse erected the following year. At its height the congregation included 100 members. The Greek Revival style church once had a belfry, but it was removed sometime in the 20th century, likely due to repair costs. The interior included a curved ceiling, and windows line the side elevations. The congregation saw dwindling numbers and closed in the early 20th century. It is now privately owned, but lovingly preserved.

Cornwall Bridge Railroad Station // 1886

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One of the most attractive railroad depots in Connecticut, the Cornwall Bridge Railroad Station exists in almost complete originality. Its siding is board and batten and its slate roof with a wide overhang supported by the original brackets, showcases the attention to detail railroad companies paid to design and appoint these important landmarks. Built in 1886, the building can be classified as Stick Style and is one of a few buildings in town of the style, adding to its significance. The station was built by the Housatonic Railroad to replace an earlier station on the site. The Housatonic line was acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1892 and later by the Penn Central Railroad in 1969, which went bankrupt by 1970. This station was subsequently sold to private ownership and listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a tool to bring awareness to its significance and threatened status. Luckily, the building was preserved and has been converted to a private residence.

West Cornwall Congregational Church // 1877

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One of the few Gothic style buildings in the enchanting town of Cornwall, Connecticut is this large church-turned-residence in West Cornwall village. As West Cornwall developed in the second half of the 19th century into the largest district in town, residents here began to discuss the idea of building their own Congregational church, rather than travel to the central village church to attend services. In the 1870s, West Cornwall congregationalists raised over $4,000 to acquire a building lot and erect this fine church. Dedicated in January 1878, the wood-frame church is a rare example of the Victorian Gothic/Stick styles with clapboard siding, lancet (pointed arched) windows, a corner tower with belfry, vertical sheathing in the gables, and ornamental applied stickwork. The church closed in the 20th century and was converted to a private residence, and is presently for sale!

Newport Old Fire Station Hose No. 8 // 1887

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One of the charming converted old fire stations of Newport, Rhode Island, can be found tucked away on Prospect Hill Street. This is Hose No. 8 Fire Station, built in 1887 by the City of Newport as a neighborhood station to battle fires in the dense network of streets and homes Downtown. The design blends Romanesque Revival and Victorian Gothic elements into a compact, two-story brick building. The station was closed in 1912 as the structure no-longer was compatible with larger fire apparatus and gasoline-powered trucks. The building would suffer from neglect and was crumbling, before being reconstructed, brick-by-brick, and restored by Hacin Architects of Boston as a private residence. The structure is essentially new on the interior but provides a significant preserved exterior that was long part of the eclectic streetscape of Prospect Hill Street.

Rockland Railroad Station // 1917

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Welcome to Rockland, Maine! Originally called Catawamteak by the Abenaki, meaning “great landing place”, Rockland was first settled by European settlers in In 1769 as a camp to produce oak staves and pine lumber. In 1777, when Thomaston was incorporated, present-day Rockland became a district called Shore village. In 1848, it was set off as the town of East Thomaston and renamed Rockland in 1850. The coastal community grew quickly as a shipbuilding and lime production center, with upwards of 300 vessels to transport the mineral to various ports in the country for the building of communities all down the coast. The opening of the Knox and Lincoln Railroad in 1871 brought an influx of tourists and businesses, creating a development boom for the community. The line was leased to the Maine Central Railroad in 1891, which took over ownership in 1901. The Rockland Railroad Station, seen here, was built in 1917, just before the government took over the railroads during World War I. Architects Coolidge and Shattuck designed the station in the Romanesque Revival style with the oversized arched openings at the windows and main entrance. The rise of the automobile industry would further harm rail service and usage, and the Rockland Branch officially closed in 1959. The old Rockland branch station operated as the Rockland Town Hall for decades and is now occupied by a local restaurant, Trackside Station.

Wadsworth School // 1897

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The former Wadsworth School of Danvers, Massachusetts, was built in 1897 as a district schoolhouse for the growing town and is one of the finest examples of a school building designed in the Colonial Revival style in the state. The large building held four classrooms (two on each floor) for over 200 pupils with stairhalls at either entrance and was designed by local architect, William H. Pearce. The school was in use until the 1970s when the town consolidated many of the schools, selling this building as excess. The property was converted to offices and given a preservation restriction by the town, protecting it as a local landmark for generations to come!

Former Weeks Junior High School – Weeks House // 1931

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Adaptive reuse projects will ALWAYS get love on here!

Originally constructed in 1931 as the Weeks Junior High School in Newton Centre, Newton, this architecturally significant school building is the finest local example of the Tudor Revival style in that use. The Weeks School was designed by Ralph Coolidge Henry and Henry Parsons Richmond, architects who were draftsmen for Guy Lowell, one of the greats, and the successors to his practice upon his death in 1927. The design for the Weeks School is of traditional brick and cast stone, with its main entrance through a large Gothic arch at the center of the building. Two wings extend parallel to the tower and then bend back at 45-degree angles, creating the distinctive U-shaped form, which provided ample natural light in all classrooms. After a consolidation of local schools in the mid-20th century, the Weeks School closed, but was beautifully rehabbed in 1984 into housing as the Weeks House. Today, the building is comprised of mixed income housing of about 75, one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

Former Newton Centre Methodist Episcopal Church // 1899

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This building, the former Newton Centre Methodist Episcopal Church, is Romanesque in style, and is one of the more notable adaptive reuse projects in Newton. The church was designed by the esteemed architectural firm of Andrews, Jacques & Rantoul and completed in 1899 for the local Methodist Episcopal congregation. The edifice is built of locally quarried rubblestone, often called Roxbury Puddingstone, and trimmed with rough cut Milford granite. The granite is used at the windows, forming the arches and heads, and most strikingly in the large arched entrance. The church eventually closed and was renovated with modern windows, additions, and more, and currently houses a restaurant, bank, book store, and professional offices.

New Gloucester Old High School – New Gloucester Public Library // 1902

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This building, the present New Gloucester Public Library, was originally constructed in 1902 as the town’s high school, a use that remained until 1962, when pupils would go to a modern school building in nearby Gray, Maine. The building is an excellent example of the Colonial Revival style with a symmetrical facade dominated by a row of multi-light windows separated by paneling, a segmental-arched dormer, and cupola at the roof with a bell. When the high school moved to its present location, this building sat vacant for some time and would be occupied by the New Gloucester Historical Society for storage and display of their collections until the public library moved into the building by the early 1990s.

Former Schrafft’s Candy Factory – Converse HQ // 1907

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Possibly my favorite building in the Bulfinch Triangle/North Station area of Boston is this brick behemoth. Known as the Schrafft’s Candy Factory, Hoffman Building, Lovejoy Wharf, Submarine Signal Building, etc., the building was constructed in 1907 from plans by Codman & Despradelle and first-occupied by the Schrafft’s Candy Company. It held the candy makers until 1928, when Schrafft’s moved to Charlestown, building their massive factory in Sullivan Square. A landmark in the Panel Brick style of architecture, prevalent in industrial and multi-family structures in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the old factory saw many later uses from cold storage, to a Submarine Signal Co. before it was largely vacant by the end of the 20th century. Through Preservation Tax Credits and grants, developer Related Beal was able to reimagine the building, restoring it to its former glory. The Architectural Team (TAT) oversaw the renovations and expansion of the building with a glass crown with the project accommodating the corporate headquarters for world-renowned sneaker manufacturer, Converse.

Norwood Press Complex // 1897

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Now that is an interesting example of adaptive use… What do you think of this?

The Norwood Press was formed in 1894 by several companies which consolidated to form a company that covered all aspects of the book-making process. AII three companies had been located in Boston, but were lured to Norwood by free land offered by the local Business Association along with tax incentives that were too good to pass up. The underutilized land was quickly redeveloped in the 1890s with the several-building complex built on Washington Street in Norwood, Massachusetts with the largest building (pictured) constructed in 1897. By 1904,the press room of this plant was one of the largest in the U.S.,producing nearly seven million volumes ranging from 100 to 1,600 pages each. By 1917, the Norwood Press employed 600 workers in town! The Romanesque Revival style brick factory stands out for its five-story clocktower with (now enclosed) arches and corbelling. The Norwood Press closed after WWII and the plant was purchased by the Northrup Company. Today, the warehouse is under new ownership and is used as a storage facility, with many of the windows enclosed for the storage units.

Peep Toad Mill // c.1850

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The Peep Toad Mill (also known as the Elliottville Lower Mill) was built in Killingly, Connecticut, around 1850 by the Elliottville Manufacturing Company, whose larger main mill was upstream from this complex. The Elliottville Manufacturing Company was formed in the 1830s and later acquired by Albert Elliott and Nelson Eddy, who expanded operations here. This structure, the lower Mill was used for spinning and preparing the warps for cotton sheetings, the firm’s principal product. In 1870, the two mills employed 18 women, 18 children and 13 men. The business closed in the 1880s, and the building was vacant for some time before being converted to a residence and artist studio. The old mill is a rare surviving example of a wood-frame textile mill, many of which were built but few of which survive, due to fires and/or later expansion of the premises. The present owners have done an amazing job restoring and maintaining this rare treasure!