Vestal Street Update

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • September 19, 2016

Been a busy summer on so many fronts and boy, am I tired! Lots still to do though. Museums may close up but that doesn’t mean we stop working on any of our many fronts!


Hinchman House is now nice and sparkly with a brand new paint job thanks to Jim Tyler and his wonderful crew! After they finished Hinchman, they returned a few weeks later and painted the trim, sash, basement foundation, and the chimney at the Astronomer’s Cottage! I made a visit to the Historic District Commission for permission on a new front door at the Astronomer’s Cottage as well. The current one is circa 1965 or so and our neighbors very nicely donated a much older door they had in their basement. Thus, fairly soon, we will have a new door on the Astronomer’s Cottage at Number 3 Vestal that is not rotting away! The Astronomer’s Cottage is ca. 1830 and from some of the images I took of the window trim and sash, you can certainly see that.



Next up, shingling and re-roofing the Astronomer’s Cottage and repairing and replacing gutters and downspouts at Hinchman House. Much of this work on the two properties is being funded in part by a matching grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund (MCF) grant. It is a 1:1 match and we are still wrapping up that match amount should you wish to make a contribution. MCF provided $117,000.00 and MMA has to match the remainder.

More still to come – including work on the Research Center and a site visit by the structural engineer whom I have worked with for many years. He will be here to begin an assessment on the 1908 Vestal Street Observatory and 1922 Astronomical Study (the brick parapet addition) which will be another conservation project in the MMA’s future.


JNLF

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