Deerfield Mass
By a happy accident, I stumbled upon Deerfield Massachusetts while visiting my cousin J. KIrk Richards in Belchertown where he bought an old church building for an art studio. That was cool. I want to buy a church. That's beside the point. Deerfield is a small hamlet frozen in time. It's like time just passed the town by. If you're a historic architecture buff, this town is definitely worth the visit. If you're not passionate, then it's a long drive to see some old stuff. For me, there were lessons to learn.
Even though this house is about the same shape and size as the house above, both are distinct and have lots of charm. This one is a very evenly spaced facade unlike the one above. Chimney locations are different. The doorways and and window treatments are unique. These details make each of these very simple boxes beautiful and charming in their own right.
Interesting the planter beds were more than 20' wide. You can grow some pretty significant trees in a planter bed that big. Houses were set back from the sidewalk between 15' and 50'.
Each house had two to four additions. This additive effect is something people are trying to do with new construction today. It's important to make sure each volume is distinct.
This is amazing detail for the front door surround. The volumes of homes were simple. The order of the front facade was clear with pretty regular spacing. The details were where you put your money--particularly on the front door surround.
The additions keep going. Each with their own local symmetry.
This is a very simple salt box. If I were to develop a neighborhood with a bunch homes that looked like this neighborhood, would any of you want to move there?
Another example of additions with character.
Charming commercial buildings and inn.
There was no question what the civic buildings were. The architecture reinforced the purpose of the building. Residential buildings looked like residential buildings. Commercial buildings looked commercial. Civic buildings looked civic.
Wow. That is beautiful.
I had great time in Deerfield, MA and would go again!
