Historical Commission Approves Demolition of 1890 Carriage House

Report on the Meeting of the Amherst Historical Commission, March 3, 2025

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Robin Fordham (Chair), Pat Auth, Madeleine Helmer, and Hetty Startup. Absent: Antonia Brillembourg

Staff: Walker Powell (Planner)

The current owner of a North Amherst home was given permission to demolish a carriage house built in the 1890s in order to construct a larger two-story garage. Wes Parker stated that the house, barn, and carriage house at 1146 North Pleasant Street belonged to his grandparents. The family needs more space than is provided by the carriage house, he said, which was built in an era before carriage houses became auto garages around 1916. It is too small to fit a modern car. The carriage house has no foundation and is beginning to degrade. According to Historic Commission member Hetty Startup who made a site visit, the structure is “torqued,” that is, beginning to twist.

Parker said his family has maintained the house, the barn, and another structure, although his grandparents demolished a small building which had been used as a butcher shop. They also removed the front porch from the main house. He has several old photos of the property over the years. The chimney was built in the 1930s, and there are pictures taken during the 1939 flood and before Dutch Elm disease decimated the surrounding trees. 

The Greek Revival main house dates to the 1830’s. It was home to one of the Dickinson families at one time and is known as the Fish house, because Dr. Seth Fish and his wife Emily lived there. Dr. Fish’s medical office was in the house. It is located in a National Historic District in North Amherst. There is an extensive history of the house available on the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS) site with information compiled in 2014.

The commissioners said they were impressed with the amount of history available about the site. They did feel that the carriage house is historically significant, but Chair Robin Fordham said she felt that it may not be feasible to preserve it. She added that reusing the materials in the carriage house in a new structure is not the same as preserving it. 

Parker noted that he has had three contractors look at the structure and all said that it can’t be saved and will need to come down sooner or later. He said his family has devoted significant  resources to maintaining the large barn and is committed to keeping the property in the family. 

Commissioner Madeleine Helmer stated that the carriage house is quite visible from the road, and that the arrangement of buildings is typical of the era it was built. She suggested that any new construction be set back from the road to maintain the historic appearance of the site.

Fordham said that ideally she wishes that the carriage house could be preserved, but thinks there is no clear way to save the structure, and instituting a demolition delay would serve no practical purpose. The commission voted 4-0 that the carriage house should not be “preferably preserved,” and the demolition permit can go forward.

The Historical Commission will next meet on April 7.