From textile mills to town halls, we in the Valley tend to recycle our buildings, often dressing them up and turning them out into something new, useful and previously unintended.
Sparhawk School, Amesbury:
This antique residence in Amesbury has found new life as the Sparhawk School. Photo by Bob Ross.
“I was born in this room,” said the woman, standing in the students’ art room at the Sparhawk School. “And our broom closet was over there.” She had come to visit this 1920s brick house on the Sparhawk School campus in Amesbury, a nostalgic trip to her once-childhood home.
Louise Stilphen, Sparhawk’s founder and headmaster, has welcomed quite a few visitors to her facility. This building is one of three antique residences that comprise the Elm Street campus – the former kitchens, dining rooms and bedrooms now recast into bright and airy classrooms, music rooms and reading areas.
It all started in 1994 when Stilphen realized her lifelong dream of founding a private school. Enrollment grew quickly. A year later, Stilphen moved the school from her own home to a large yellow farmhouse, a building which still serves as both Sparhawk’s architectural centerpiece. Since then, parents and volunteers have added a porch, a locker room, gardens and an outdoor playground.
Four years later, the school needed more space. So when the abandoned, red-brick house was offered, the school gratefully accepted. There was just one snag: the 1920s residence had to be moved from its then-location on Route 110.
Long before moving day arrived, Stilphen had a lot of planning to do. To move, re-site and re-zone an antique house requires a lot of permits, permissions and cooperation. And to avoid the early-summer traffic along busy Route 110, they had to move the house extra slowly – and in the middle of the night. And finally, when it reached its new habitat, the house had to be repositioned by hand on its foundation. So the school had a second house.
A year later, Sparhawk accepted another building: an 1890s clapboard residence. This time, they only had to move it across and up the street, from where Amesbury’s Stop & Shop plaza now stands.
So why not just build some modern, from-scratch classrooms? “You can’t buy this kind of character,” says Stilphen, looking around the school’s cozy library with its built-in bookshelves and polished-wood, creaky floors. “This all communicates the implicit values of a Sparhawk education – the workmanship, the care, the respect that went into this environment.”
And this three-house campus provides hands-on math, physics and history lessons. “I often tell the students,” says Stilphen, pointing to the 1785 yellow farmhouse: “This house was here when George Washington was president.”
Benjamin Adams Memorial Building, Derry:
A Derry landmark, the Adams Memorial Building has had several incarnations, including as a police station, a library, and an opera house. Photo by Bob Ross.
In 1900, Benjamin Adams bequeathed a sum of money to his hometown of Derry. The bequest of $10,000 was allocated to construct a public-use building in the center of town. Adams, a prominent lumberyard owner, left two stipulations: the new municipal building should bear his own name, and at least part of it should house a town library.
Four years after Adams’ death, the handsome, three-level brick building was complete. It quickly became the social center of Derry. The main floor housed Derry’s courthouse and selectmen’s office. A year later – 1905 – the town library was opened to the public. The Adams Building’s lower level was home to an elementary school attended by children from Derry’s overflowing public schools. On the third level was an Edwardian-style theater, complete with an ornate flying balcony. The Opera House hosted its first live performance in 1904. Though officially named for its benefactor, locals began to affectionately call the entirety of the building “The Opera House.”
But by 1917, the courthouse had moved to a new building. And six years later, another Derry philanthropist left his own bequest for a larger library in a new location. The elementary school left. The police department moved in, keeping law and order from the Adams’ Building’s huge, open-space lower room. “By the 1980s, almost everybody had vacated this building,” says Rick Holmes, town historian and author. “All that was left here was the town’s office of Youth Services.”
Historian Rick Holmes documents Derry’s story, and has moved the Derry History Museum into the lower floor of the Adams. Photo by Bob Ross.
In the 90s, the building began to recast itself. The Greater Derry Arts Council refurbished and reopened the upstairs Opera House, providing a venue for local and visiting performing arts groups. In 2004, the Derry Heritage Commission moved the town’s museum into the lower level, the former police headquarters. This large space now showcases the Derry History Museum’s collection of town artifacts, letters, photographs and memorabilia, chronicling the area’s history from 1719 to the present.
So what does it take to restage a police department into a town museum? According to Rick Holmes, the first task was to divide up the large open space into separate and distinct exhibit areas. So they constructed some interior walls. They built an “Alan Shepard Room” to detail the life of America’s famous astronaut, a Derry native. Since opening, the Shepard Room has become a popular exhibit among schools, scout troops and youth groups. In the other newly crafted rooms, the meticulously archived displays range from antique cradles, spinning wheels and WWII memorabilia, to artifacts from Derry’s various ethnic groups and the area’s shoe-manufacturing heyday.
Today, the Adams Memorial Building hasn’t completely shed its law-and-order past. In a corner of the museum stands the original metal door to the old jail cell.
Mission Oak Grill, Newburyport:
The building that once housed the Newburyport Baptist Church is now home to popular restaurant Mission Oak Grill. Photo by Bob Ross.
Ardent foodies call it a religious experience: that perfect pairing of good wine and fine cuisine. If you’re dining at Newburyport’s Mission Oak Grill, this isn’t just restaurant-review hyperbole. Before it became a downtown restaurant and function hall, the Mission Oak Grill served as the city’s Baptist Church.
The transition from church to restaurant happened almost 10 years ago when the church moved out of its Green Street location. Now, the original church structure was empty and available, and the Reverend Swilling offered it to Jim Gaines and his business partner, the late Edward Molin, who bought the de-commissioned church. “We really wanted to preserve this building,” says Gaines. “We didn’t want to see it become a condo.”
Over 150 years earlier, in 1846, Newburyport residents Ebenezer and Sarah Hale had purchased the land at the corner of Green Street and Brown Square to construct a Baptist Meeting House.
The interior of the former church boasts many original architectural features along with the modern touches that have been added. Photo by Bob Ross.
As the new owners of the well-loved facility, Gaines and Molin hired an architectural firm to create an upscale function hall, which would keep the building available for public use. The builders installed steel posts to support the hall’s polished floors from beneath. To meet modern-day requirements and usage, they also installed new bathrooms, an elevator, a mezzanine and a bridal suite. Finally, the function hall was open for business, featuring the church’s original antique lampshades and floor-to-ceiling windows topped by the original stained glass.
For the street-level basement, Gaines and Molin launched the Kiwi Grill, a New Zealand-themed eatery with a state-of-the-art kitchen. Two years later, the Kiwi Grill became the Mission Oak. The restaurant and function hall are now owned by Wellington Augusto, a veteran of the Boston-area restaurant scene. When Augusto visited Newburyport on a restaurant-shopping expedition, the building’s history – plus its state-of-the-art equipment – was a real draw. And, he adds, “The architecture was just beautiful when we walked in here.”
Does your building or house have a story? Newburyport resident Jane Carolan, an architectural historian and preservation consultant, has been commissioned to research and document the history of many of this area’s residential and public buildings. Here are her suggestions for unearthing your own property’s past life.
Your local library. Ask the reference librarians for the local history collection, which is often a rich source of old photos, maps and newspaper articles.
Your town’s official Web site. May include a town history or provide a list of valuable historical resources.
Deed Research. Generally organized by county. Start with the building’s current owner. Title examiners at the County Deeds Office will help you research previous owners.
Your Town’s Historic or Preservation Society. A great resource of artifacts, maps and photographs.
Written histories. Some town histories are partially anecdotal, not verbatim fact, but town histories provide good clues as well as a launching point for more research.
Your neighbors. New in town? Talk to your older neighbors, especially those who are native-born to your area.
Once Upon This Place
From textile mills to town halls, we in the Valley tend to recycle our buildings, often dressing them up and turning them out into something new, useful and previously unintended.
Sparhawk School, Amesbury:
This antique residence in Amesbury has found new life as the Sparhawk School. Photo by Bob Ross.
“I was born in this room,” said the woman, standing in the students’ art room at the Sparhawk School. “And our broom closet was over there.” She had come to visit this 1920s brick house on the Sparhawk School campus in Amesbury, a nostalgic trip to her once-childhood home.
Louise Stilphen, Sparhawk’s founder and headmaster, has welcomed quite a few visitors to her facility. This building is one of three antique residences that comprise the Elm Street campus – the former kitchens, dining rooms and bedrooms now recast into bright and airy classrooms, music rooms and reading areas.
It all started in 1994 when Stilphen realized her lifelong dream of founding a private school. Enrollment grew quickly. A year later, Stilphen moved the school from her own home to a large yellow farmhouse, a building which still serves as both Sparhawk’s architectural centerpiece. Since then, parents and volunteers have added a porch, a locker room, gardens and an outdoor playground.
Four years later, the school needed more space. So when the abandoned, red-brick house was offered, the school gratefully accepted. There was just one snag: the 1920s residence had to be moved from its then-location on Route 110.
Long before moving day arrived, Stilphen had a lot of planning to do. To move, re-site and re-zone an antique house requires a lot of permits, permissions and cooperation. And to avoid the early-summer traffic along busy Route 110, they had to move the house extra slowly – and in the middle of the night. And finally, when it reached its new habitat, the house had to be repositioned by hand on its foundation. So the school had a second house.
A year later, Sparhawk accepted another building: an 1890s clapboard residence. This time, they only had to move it across and up the street, from where Amesbury’s Stop & Shop plaza now stands.
So why not just build some modern, from-scratch classrooms? “You can’t buy this kind of character,” says Stilphen, looking around the school’s cozy library with its built-in bookshelves and polished-wood, creaky floors. “This all communicates the implicit values of a Sparhawk education – the workmanship, the care, the respect that went into this environment.”
And this three-house campus provides hands-on math, physics and history lessons. “I often tell the students,” says Stilphen, pointing to the 1785 yellow farmhouse: “This house was here when George Washington was president.”
Benjamin Adams Memorial Building, Derry:
A Derry landmark, the Adams Memorial Building has had several incarnations, including as a police station, a library, and an opera house. Photo by Bob Ross.
In 1900, Benjamin Adams bequeathed a sum of money to his hometown of Derry. The bequest of $10,000 was allocated to construct a public-use building in the center of town. Adams, a prominent lumberyard owner, left two stipulations: the new municipal building should bear his own name, and at least part of it should house a town library.
Four years after Adams’ death, the handsome, three-level brick building was complete. It quickly became the social center of Derry. The main floor housed Derry’s courthouse and selectmen’s office. A year later – 1905 – the town library was opened to the public. The Adams Building’s lower level was home to an elementary school attended by children from Derry’s overflowing public schools. On the third level was an Edwardian-style theater, complete with an ornate flying balcony. The Opera House hosted its first live performance in 1904. Though officially named for its benefactor, locals began to affectionately call the entirety of the building “The Opera House.”
But by 1917, the courthouse had moved to a new building. And six years later, another Derry philanthropist left his own bequest for a larger library in a new location. The elementary school left. The police department moved in, keeping law and order from the Adams’ Building’s huge, open-space lower room. “By the 1980s, almost everybody had vacated this building,” says Rick Holmes, town historian and author. “All that was left here was the town’s office of Youth Services.”
Historian Rick Holmes documents Derry’s story, and has moved the Derry History Museum into the lower floor of the Adams. Photo by Bob Ross.
In the 90s, the building began to recast itself. The Greater Derry Arts Council refurbished and reopened the upstairs Opera House, providing a venue for local and visiting performing arts groups. In 2004, the Derry Heritage Commission moved the town’s museum into the lower level, the former police headquarters. This large space now showcases the Derry History Museum’s collection of town artifacts, letters, photographs and memorabilia, chronicling the area’s history from 1719 to the present.
So what does it take to restage a police department into a town museum? According to Rick Holmes, the first task was to divide up the large open space into separate and distinct exhibit areas. So they constructed some interior walls. They built an “Alan Shepard Room” to detail the life of America’s famous astronaut, a Derry native. Since opening, the Shepard Room has become a popular exhibit among schools, scout troops and youth groups. In the other newly crafted rooms, the meticulously archived displays range from antique cradles, spinning wheels and WWII memorabilia, to artifacts from Derry’s various ethnic groups and the area’s shoe-manufacturing heyday.
Today, the Adams Memorial Building hasn’t completely shed its law-and-order past. In a corner of the museum stands the original metal door to the old jail cell.
Mission Oak Grill, Newburyport:
The building that once housed the Newburyport Baptist Church is now home to popular restaurant Mission Oak Grill. Photo by Bob Ross.
Ardent foodies call it a religious experience: that perfect pairing of good wine and fine cuisine. If you’re dining at Newburyport’s Mission Oak Grill, this isn’t just restaurant-review hyperbole. Before it became a downtown restaurant and function hall, the Mission Oak Grill served as the city’s Baptist Church.
The transition from church to restaurant happened almost 10 years ago when the church moved out of its Green Street location. Now, the original church structure was empty and available, and the Reverend Swilling offered it to Jim Gaines and his business partner, the late Edward Molin, who bought the de-commissioned church. “We really wanted to preserve this building,” says Gaines. “We didn’t want to see it become a condo.”
Over 150 years earlier, in 1846, Newburyport residents Ebenezer and Sarah Hale had purchased the land at the corner of Green Street and Brown Square to construct a Baptist Meeting House.
The interior of the former church boasts many original architectural features along with the modern touches that have been added. Photo by Bob Ross.
As the new owners of the well-loved facility, Gaines and Molin hired an architectural firm to create an upscale function hall, which would keep the building available for public use. The builders installed steel posts to support the hall’s polished floors from beneath. To meet modern-day requirements and usage, they also installed new bathrooms, an elevator, a mezzanine and a bridal suite. Finally, the function hall was open for business, featuring the church’s original antique lampshades and floor-to-ceiling windows topped by the original stained glass.
For the street-level basement, Gaines and Molin launched the Kiwi Grill, a New Zealand-themed eatery with a state-of-the-art kitchen. Two years later, the Kiwi Grill became the Mission Oak. The restaurant and function hall are now owned by Wellington Augusto, a veteran of the Boston-area restaurant scene. When Augusto visited Newburyport on a restaurant-shopping expedition, the building’s history – plus its state-of-the-art equipment – was a real draw. And, he adds, “The architecture was just beautiful when we walked in here.”
Does your building or house have a story?
Newburyport resident Jane Carolan, an architectural historian and preservation consultant, has been commissioned to research and document the history of many of this area’s residential and public buildings. Here are her suggestions for unearthing your own property’s past life.
Your local library. Ask the reference librarians for the local history collection, which is often a rich source of old photos, maps and newspaper articles.
Your town’s official Web site. May include a town history or provide a list of valuable historical resources.
Deed Research. Generally organized by county. Start with the building’s current owner. Title examiners at the County Deeds Office will help you research previous owners.
Your Town’s Historic or Preservation Society. A great resource of artifacts, maps and photographs.
Written histories. Some town histories are partially anecdotal, not verbatim fact, but town histories provide good clues as well as a launching point for more research.
Your neighbors. New in town? Talk to your older neighbors, especially those who are native-born to your area.