| |
|
|
Clock Tower Restoration
East School,
Pittsfield
This building is one of the nation’s few remaining Civil War-era
schoolhouses. It was designed by Chicago architect John Mills Van Osdel,
one of the state’s first professional architects. Six years after the
building’s completion in 1865, a clock tower was constructed to house a
3,000-pound cast-bronze school bell. Classes were held here until 1955,
when the school district shuttered the building. For 20 years, it lay
dormant and threatened with demolition.
|
|
| |
The building was purchased in the early 1970s
by the Pike County Historical Society, which converted it into museum
space, while the Pittsfield Theater Guild used the second floor for its
productions. Despite this tenancy, by 2004 the clock tower’s metal roof
and supporting wood structure were in need of major repairs. With
donations to the historical society, the original red cedar framing was
consolidated or replaced with matching materials. A new roof was
installed, using the original “terne metal” process. All four clock faces
were reconstructed, based on historic photos, and the entire tower was
repainted with properly documented historic colors.
|
|
