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Form No. 10-300 REV. (9/77) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS __________TYPE ALL ENTRIES - COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS______ NAME HISTORIC Equinox House Supplement'*- AND/OR COMMON [LOCATION STREET & NUMBER Main and Union Streets _NOT FOR PUBLICATION CITY. TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Manchester .VICINITY OF Vermont STATE CODE COUNTY CODE Vermont 50 Bennington 003 HCLASSIFI c ATI ON CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE X_D I STRICT —PUBLIC ^-OCCUPIED _ AGRICULTURE —MUSEUM _ BUILDING(S) —PRIVATE .^.UNOCCUPIED ^.COMMERCIAL —PARK —STRUCTURE X.BOTH —WORK IN PROGRESS —EDUCATIONAL —PRIVATE RESIDENCE _SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE —ENTERTAINMENT JfoELIGIOUS _ OBJECT —IN PROCESS -X.YES: RESTRICTED ^GOVERNMENT —SCIENTIFIC —BEING CONSIDERED . -YES: UNRESTRICTED —INDUSTRIAL —TRANSPORTATION _NO —MILITARY _OTHER: [OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME See Continuation Sheet 4-1 STREET & NUMBER CITY. TOWN STATE __ VICINITY OF H LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDJvETC. office of the Town Clerk STREET & NUMBER CITY. TOWN STATE Manchester Center Vermont 0 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE See Continuation Sheet 6-1 DATE —FEDERAL —STATE —COUNTY _LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS CITY. TOWN STATE DESCRIPTION CONDITION -,, CHECK ONE CHECK ONE —EXCELLENT '^ l ' ' I—DETERIORATED —UNALTERED ^.ORIGINAL SITE _RUINS -<ERED _MOVED DATE. _UNEXPOSED DESCRIBETHE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE This nomination clarifies and expands the nomination of the Equinox House, entered in the National Register on November 21, 1972. That nomination included the two princi pal buildings of the Equinox complex and an undefined 9-acre parcel. This amendment expands the nominated area to include associated religious, civic, and commercial build ings due to the visual integrity of the area as the center of public life in the village of Manchester. The district covered by this nomination includes eleven buildings and building complexes which exhibit Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate detailing. Functional types include hotels, a church, store, courthouse, and music hall. The buildings are tightly clustered, and have, since its founding, defined the civic and commercial core of the Village of Manchester. Nominated buildings are located on both sides of US 7, the major north- south thoroughfare on the western side of the state and Union Street to the east. The buildings contained within the district are described as follows (numbers refer to enclosed sketch map) : 1. Orvis Inn, probably built in the 1860's. A boldly massed 2%-story frame building with clapboard siding, the Orvis Inn is five bays across its main (east) facade, and has a central entrance, and gable roof. There is a large central wall dormer with a Palladian window; two flanking gabled dormers continue the classical motif, but use a blind diamond panel pane on either side of a round-arched window to create the image. All first and second story windows are 2/2; some windows on the rear of the first floor have been removed. A cornice with incised paired brackets runs below the eaves and a similar cornice, is found on the roof , dormers. , A full -width one~-story porch runs across the front facade. To the rear of the building extends a 9-bay ell of the same height as the main block. It too is clapbbard'ed. •-•-•••' "/.;,.-. It is commonly heTd 'that this building was in existence before 1&331 knd was' altered in the later 19th century. It seems more likely, however, that the Orvis Inn was constructed virtually as it now stands, in the 1860 's. One late-19th century source states that the building was erected as a residence by J. M. Shattuck, who "removed" the pre-1833 house from the site. Shattuck is shown as owner of the structures on an 1869 map. The massing and detailing of the Inn would support this later construction date. In 1883, the building was purchased by Charles F. Orvis and functioned as a dwelling and summer boarding house. First Congregational Church, 1871. The tallest building in the Town of Manchester, the First Congregational Church is a frame structure with clapboard siding. Its main (west) facade is relatively plain, with a large central round window with label mold located in the upper portion of the front wall, flanked by two narrow 1/1 round arch windows below. Directly under the center window is a paneled double-leaf door. On the right side of the facade, at the southwest corner of the building, is a three-stage spire whose square base extends slightly higher than the eaves line of the main mass of the church. This base contains an entry on the ground floor and a round-arch win dow above a rectangular window, repeating the motif of the two smaller windows on the main front. FHR-d-300 (11-78) United States Department of the Interior r~-~ ~~-~——~..— Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service j For HCRS use only National Register of Historic Places received MAR <?$ Inventory—Nomination Form ' «** enteredJUN 3 Continuation sheet 7-2__________________Item number 7____________Page 2_____ Above this base is a square bell chamber with a louvered round-arch opening on the west and south facades; other sides are infilled with panels. This stage is capped by a clock face on each side which protrudes into the heavy console cornice at the top of the level. The topmost portion of the tower is an octagonal broach spire, capped by a finial. Echoing the large tower, a small square paneled tower on the left side of the main facade breaks through the cornice line of the main block and culminates in a small spire. The church is six bays deep, each bay defined by a tall round-arch window. The bays are further delineated by plain vertical boards between the windows, which end in incised consoles supporting the eaves. The ornament on the building is consistent with its period and includes jig-saw decoration on the consoles, applied drops below the first-stage cornice of the tower, applied rose window tracery on the blind fanlights over the entrances, and an applied quatrefoil near the top of the smaller spire. One source states that the "contractors and the architect for the . church were from Troy, New York." The church has been little altered since its-construction. Three multi- paned picture windows on the lower north wall do not seriously detract from the structure's historic appearance. The interior of the church was remodelled between 1925 and 1931. There is a one-story addition, c. 1970, extending south from the rear of the right (south) facade of the church. It houses the church offices and school. A plain addition on the rear of this structure rises two stories above grade due to a sharp drop in the site. It is not visible from Route 7. Due to the low profile of the office/school addition, it does not seriously detract from the church's primary visual function as the closure on the north east corner of the district. 3. Soldier's Monument, 1897. Consisting of a sculpture of a Revolutionary War soldier atop a granite pedestal, this statue is an important part of the streetscape, and adds to the sense of time and place of the district. 4. Johnny Appleseed Bookshop, probably 1832 or 1833. This handsome brick structure is one of the smallest in the district, yet it contributes much to the character of the village center. It is three bays wide on the front (east) gable end, with a central entry, and is three bays deep. The facade is strongly defined by four two-story pilasters which terminate in three reliev ing arches with marble keystones and imposts. The central arch protrudes up into the lower chord of the cornice on the pedimented gable. The first floor windows are recent and con tain 2-8 panes; at one point they had 2/2 sash, but probably originated as 6/6. The presence of two one-story recessed panels with relieving arches on the south facade, as well as vaguely arched changes in the type of brick used on the second floor, suggest that the building may have been enlarged later in the century. This would be stylistically consistent with the second floor fenestration. The second floor windows on the main facade consist of two oculi in the side bays and a large thermal window in the center bay. The latter has a stone sill similar to those of FHR-8-300 (11-78) United States Department of the Interior - -„-....„._...__. __ „..- Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service For HCRS use only National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form dateentered JUN 3 Continuation sheet 7-5 _________________ Item number 7 ___________Page 5 _____ the first floor windows. The oculi have four small stone key voussoirs around their cir cumferences . The main entrance is Greek Revival in detail. Beneath a large stone lintel is a six-light transom supported by two pairs of pilasters, with each pair separated by a five-light, %- length sidelight. The gable tympanum is clapboarded and contains a semi-circular window with radiating mun- tins and applied keystone ornament. The building housed the First Bank of Manchester (which was also Manchester's first bank), founded in 1832. Although several sources state that the structure was built in 1832 or 1833, the bank was originally operated in a house, and was later located in this building where it remained until the bank closed in 1848. The Battenkill Bank began operation in the building in the same year. Currently housing a bookstore, the building has retained its vault which is now used for rare book storage. 5. Bennington County Courthouse, 1822; enlarged 1849.