Berkshire Cottages

Ventfort Hall Library, Lenox, Mass

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The library at Ventfort Hall in Lenox, probably around the 1890s. Image courtesy of the Lenox Library Association.

The scene in 2018:

As discussed in more detail in a previous post, Ventfort Hall was completed in 1893 as the summer home of George and Sarah Morgan. The house was subsequently owned by the Bonsal family from 1925 until 1945, and during the second half of the 20th century it was used for a variety of purposes, including as dormitory, hotel, ballet school, and religious organization. It was nearly demolished in the early 1990s, but it was instead preserved and restored, and it is now a museum.

These two photos show the library, which is located on the first floor in the northwest corner of the building. The first photo as probably taken soon after the house was completed, and the room’s appearance highlights the Victorian fashion of having eclectic, cluttered interior spaces. This included a mix of mismatched chairs, along with walls that were nearly hidden by bookcases, paintings, photographs, and knickknacks.

Today, the library has been restored, and it is easily recognizable from its appearance in the first photo. However, unlike most of the other rooms in Ventfort Hall, it is not furnished with period antiques. Instead, as the 2018 photo shows, it is filled with modern tables and chairs, and its modern-day uses now include serving as a gathering space for guided tours of the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum.

Ventfort Hall, Lenox, Mass (2)

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The southwestern side of Ventfort Hall in Lenox, around the 1890s. Image courtesy of the Lenox Library Association.

The scene in 2018:

These photos show the back side of Ventfort Hall, which faces southwest across a sloping lawn in the rear of the property. The first photo was probably taken soon after the house was completed in 1893, and at the time it was the summer residence of New York banker George Morgan and his wife Sarah, who was the sister of J. P. Morgan. The exterior of the house is built of brick, and it features a Jacobean Revival-style design that resembles a 17th century English country house. It was the work of Rotch & Tilden, a Boston architectural firm that was responsible for several other large Gilded Age estates here in Lenox.

At the time, the Berkshires region was a popular resort destination for the wealthy, particularly for New Yorkers who wanted to escape the summer heat and smells of the city. As in other such places, including Newport, Bar Harbor, and the Gold Coast of Long Island, prominent families outdid each other in constructing lavish “cottages.” Ventfort Hall was actually built on the site of an older, smaller home that was named Vent Fort, which is French for “strong wind.” When the Morgans purchased the property, they disposed of the old house – which was moved across the street – but they kept the name for their new house, which featured 28 rooms and 28,000 square feet of floor space.

Sarah Morgan died only three years after the house was completed, and her husband George died in 1911, but the house remained in the family until it was sold in 1925. However, in the interim it was also rented by several other prominent families, including Margaret Emerson Vanderbilt, who spent several summers here in the late 1910s. She was the young widow of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who had died in the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, and after a few years of renting Ventfort Hall she moved into a house of her own here in Lenox. The house was subsequently rented by railroad executive William Roscoe Bonsal and his wife Mary, and in 1925 they purchased the property outright.

The Bonsal family owned Ventfort Hall for another 20 years, before the heirs of William and Mary sold it in 1945. By this point the Gilded Age was a distant memory, having been eclipsed by two world wars and the Great Depression, and massive summer homes such as this one were regarded as costly white elephants. Many were converted into institutional use, with Ventfort Hall variously being used as a dormitory, hotel, ballet school, and a religious organization. It was abandoned by the late 1980s, and was nearly demolished, but it was instead acquired by the Ventfort Hall Association in 1997, and was subsequently restored.

Soon after this restoration work began, the exterior of Ventfort Hall was used as a filming location for the 1999 film The Cider House Rules, which went on to win two Academy Awards. The historic building features prominently in the movie, where it stands in as St. Cloud’s Orphanage. It even appears in the background of the photograph for the theatrical release poster, which shows Ventfort Hall from an angle similar to these two photos. Most of the interior filming was done elsewhere, although the grand staircase of Ventfort Hall does appear in several scenes.

Today, around 125 years after the first photo was taken, the restored exterior of Ventfort Hall shows few differences. Perhaps the only significant difference between these two photos is the angle, as there are now trees on the grounds that block the view further to the right. Some of these might even be the same trees that, in the first photo, were recently-planted seedlings on the right side. The interior of Ventfort Hall has also been restored, and it is open to the public for guided tours as the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum.

Ventfort Hall Porch, Lenox, Mass (2)

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The porch on the southwest side of Ventfort Hall in Lenox, around 1893. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The scene in 2018:

This porch is the same one that is shown in an earlier post, except this view shows the porch from the outside of the house, rather than from the porch itself. The scene is also very similar to the previous post, which features a close-up of the steps in the lower center. The first photo was taken around 1893, and it shows the exterior of Ventfort Hall as it appeared at the time of its completion, when it was used as the summer home of George and Sarah Morgan.

Ventfort Hall remained a private residence until 1945, and it subsequently saw a variety of different uses before being abandoned in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s it was badly deteriorated and threatened with demolition. It was purchased by a developer, and it was stripped of much of its interior woodwork, but it was ultimately preserved after being purchased by the Ventfort Hall Association in 1997.

The house then underwent a major restoration, on both the exterior and interior, and it opened to the public as a museum in 2000. Around the same time, the exterior of the house was also used as a filming location for the 1999 film The Cider House Rules, with Ventfort Hall taking on the role of St. Cloud’s Orphanage. Today, the house is still open as a museum, and, aside from different landscaping, this scene is very similar to its appearance some 125 years ago.

Ventfort Hall Painters, Lenox, Mass

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A group of painters standing on the steps of Ventfort Hall in Lenox, on May 13, 1893. Image courtesy of the Lenox Library Association.

The scene in 2018:

Ventfort Hall was completed in 1893, and it was originally the summer home of wealthy New York banker George Morgan and his wife Sarah, who was the sister of J. P. Morgan. Sarah had inherited $3 million (around $85 million today) when her father, Junius Spencer Morgan, died in 1890, and she and George subsequently purchased this property in Lenox and built this house. The first photo shows a group of painters, who are standing on the steps on the southwest side of the house on May 13, 1893. They were presumably working on putting the finishing touches on the new house, and preparing it for the 1893 summer season.

Sarah Morgan ultimately spent only a few summers here at Ventfort Hall before her death in 1896, but her family continued to own the property for several decades, often renting it out to other wealthy families. The Bonsal family purchased the house in 1925, and owned it until 1945, when it was sold and converted into a dormitory for Tanglewood. It would go through several more uses during the second half of the 20th century, and it was ultimately abandoned in the late 1980s and threatened with demolition.

Thankfully, Ventfort Hall was preserved and restored, starting in the late 1990s. It is now open to the public as the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum, and this scene on the steps is not significantly different from its appearance in the first photo, taken 125 years earlier. There have been a few changes, such as the installation of handrails on the steps and statues atop the balustrade on the left, and the steps themselves have seen more than a century of wear, but overall this spot is still easily recognizable from the first photo.

Ventfort Hall Entryway, Lenox, Mass

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The entryway at Ventfort Hall in Lenox, probably in the 1890s. Image courtesy of the Lenox Library Association.

The scene in 2018:

Ventfort Hall was completed in 1893, as one of the many grand summer estates that were built in the Berkshires during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first photo was probably taken soon after its completion, and it shows the first floor entry hall. The main entrance, located on the northeast side of the building, is just around the corner to the right, as is the grand staircase. This scene, which faces to the northwest, shows an ornate fireplace in the center, and it is flanked by doors on either side. To the left is the library, and to the right is the drawing room.

This house was used as a summer residence throughout the first half of the 20th century, but these large homes in the Berkshires had begun to fall out of fashion by the postwar era. With 28 rooms and 28,000 square feet, Ventfort Hall was far too large for a private home, so it was converted into institutional use. It was first used as a dormitory, then as a hotel, a ballet school, and finally as a religious organization before finally being abandoned in the late 1980s. By this point, the building was badly deteriorated, and it was sold to a developer and threatened by demolition in the early 1990s.

During this period, the interior woodwork was stripped in anticipation of demolition, but the property was ultimately acquired by the Ventfort Hall Association in 1997. In the years that followed, this organization restored both the interior and exterior, including re-installing the woodwork, most of which had been left here on site. Some of the pieces were unaccounted for, but these were replaced with modern replicas. The 2018 photo shows some of the new woodwork, which has a light color that contrasts with the darker original wood. Overall, though, this scene is not significantly different from the first photo, thanks to the meticulous restoration work over the past two decades.

Ventfort Hall Porch, Lenox, Mass

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The porch on the south side of Ventfort Hall in Lenox, around 1893. Image courtesy of the Lenox Library Association.

The scene in 2018:

As discussed in an earlier post, Ventfort Hall was built in 1893 as the summer home of George and Sarah Morgan. George was a wealthy New York banker, and his wife Sarah – whose maiden name was also Morgan – was the sister of financier J. P. Morgan. The house was the work of the Boston-based architectural firm of Rotch & Tilden, and it features a Jacobean Revival design that gives it the appearance of a 17th century English country house.

The main entrance of the house is located on the northeastern side of the house, which faces toward Walker Street. On the opposite side of the house is a long porch, shown here, which faces to the southwest. The first photo was probably taken soon after the house was completed, and it shows the porch cluttered with a mix of wicker furniture. Also visible in this photo are curtains attached to each column, which presumably provided shade on sunny summer afternoons.

Today, around 125 years after the first photo was taken, this scene has not changed significantly. Ventfort Hall was last used as a private residence in the mid-20th century, and it subsequently became a dormitory, hotel, ballet school, and religious organization, before ultimately being restored in the late 1990s. It is now open to the public as the Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum, and it is one of several historic house museums in the Lenox area.