University Club seeks historic designation
by Daniel
J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff
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Built in 1728, the Boltwood-Stockbridge House
is the oldest in Amherst. (Stan Sherer photo)
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he members of the University Club recently approved
a plan to explore having the structure placed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
The Boltwood-Stockbridge
House, which comprises the southern half of the facility, was built
in 1728 by Hadley farmer Samuel Boltwood and is the oldest house
in Amherst. The wood-frame structure was one of the five houses
included on the original property of Massachusetts Agricultural
College.
The Homestead section
of the club was built in 1731 and was originally located near the
present site of the Lederle Graduate Research Center. The Homestead
was dedicated in 1929 as a "domestic science practice house"
where female students could polish their homemaking skills.
University Club president
Joseph S. Larson said the Boltwood-Stockbridge House also served
as a makeshift prison for Tory sympathizers during the Revolution.
Later, he said, the house was the residence for MAC presidents Levi
Stockbridge and Henry Flagg French. French's son, noted sculptor
Daniel Chester French, lived there as a child.
For a time, the house
was used by a college farm employee. After falling into disrepair,
the house was renovated during the Depression with Civilian Works
Administration money. In 1934, it opened as the Faculty Club.
Larson said securing
National Register status for the club will require backing from
the Amherst Historical Commission before the application moves on
to the state and federal levels.
Nearly 75,000 properties
in the U.S. are listed on the National Register. Sites are selected
for their association with historic events or persons; artistic
or architectural values or their potential to yield important historic
information.
In other business, University
Club members approved reduced membership rates for retired faculty
and staff and changed the bylaws to allow the facility to be used
for University business.
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