Pitching in to preserve history
Volunteers to refurbish Pittsfield's Allen House
By Scott Stafford, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Thursday, Sept. 24
PITTSFIELD -- The Berkshire Bank Foundation and the Soldier On veterans facility have joined forces to provide volunteer labor in an effort to save a deteriorating local historic property.
Early in October, roughly 20 volunteers from those organizations will be clearing pesky vegetation from around the foundation and exterior walls of the William Russell Allen House on East Street.
The former home of William Russell Allen -- the great-grandson of the Rev. Thomas Allen, "The Fighting Parson" of Revolutionary War fame -- has remained vacant and at risk since 1978.
The Allen House is overgrown with pine trees and remains a perennial threat to both vandalism and the weather. But it is considered a testament to the Gilded Age in Pittsfield. The 1885 Queen Anne Victorian style home was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1981.
According to Carole Owens, executive director of William Russell Allen House Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to the salvation of the structure, the work done by the volunteers will be the first step in a multi-tiered effort to stabilize the house and make it ready for further restoration work.
"And they're doing it for nothing, saving the project about $16,000," she said.
A few trees that are too close to both the house and the foundation will be taken down. Overgrowth around the house and the ivy creeping up the walls will also be removed. This work will prevent further damage to the house by encroaching vegetation. A temporary stairway to the rear entrance will also be installed.
Once that work is done, the state will pay for a security and fire alarm system to be installed, and plumbing and wiring on the first floor to be brought up to code. The windows will be unboarded and the heat turned on. The state has allotted $180,00 to the stabilization effort that will continue through the end of the year.
Through this work, the house will be more visible and the ornate windows will again become part of the Allen House vista.
"It won't look like a hollow-eyed withering giant anymore," Owens said. "It will look like a grand old house again."
Peter Lafayette, the executive director of the Berkshire Bank Foundation, said the bank had discussed the idea of a joint volunteer project on the Allen House with Soldier On, a local non-profit that helps homeless veterans.
Lafayette had also talked with the organizers of the Allen House effort for several years. One day recently he was driving by the Allen House and realized that it could be the joint project he had been seeking.
Owens also thought the Allen House project was a great idea. But it had to be approved by state officials, because the house and property belong to the state.
"At first they were a bit curious why somebody would want to do a volunteer project on state property," Lafayette said. "But they gave us their blessing."
Once the stabilization work is done, Owens said, a utilization plan will be formulated with input from different segments of the community. Interested parties can tour the facility to help determine the best use and clear the way to restore the building.
A 2003 study by the state estimated the restoration cost of the 13,000-square-foot structure at roughly $4 million.
The Allen House was designed by prominent architect H. Neil Wilson and is considered architecturally important as a rare example of American Queen Anne architecture because of its terra cotta tile exterior, the hand-painted ceiling, the fireplaces with polished onyx marble and cast bronze, and stained glass windows.
William Russell Allen built the house as a summer cottage. He lived in Missouri, where he owned two railroads and a granite quarry. Allen had nine children while living in the house, served as a board member of the Berkshire Athenaeum, and was a member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.
After Allen and his wife died in 1916, the family sold the house to the Diocese of Springfield for use as a maternity hospital. After St. Luke's Hospital was built, the Allen House served as housing for the nurses who worked there.
The state purchased the Allen House when it bought St. Luke's Hospital in 1978, but closed the House when it was unwilling to find a use for it.
Once the usage plan for the Allen House is done, and the funding -- which could take several years -- is secured, the restoration work can begin in earnest, Owens said.
At that point, "there may be other things we can do," Lafayette said. "Time will tell."