Williamstown's Mather House Moves to New Location
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Students from Williamstown Community Preschool watch Mather House make its way down Main Street on Wednesday morning. |
WILLAMSTOWN, Mass. — Traffic came to halt for several hours Wednesday morning as the 1840 Mather House made its way up Main Street and around the corner at Field Park.
The move of the 170-year-old building in two pieces required the closure of Route 2 west of Spring Street and removal of the phone and electrical wires that crossed Stetson Court, where the house has been since being relocated in 2002.
Spectators gathered in the chilly temperatures to take pictures of the structures making their way down Main Street. Street signs had to be removed and a few tree limbs cut to make way for the two-story house.
"This is something," said one man watching Mather's back addition move up Main Street toward Field Park. "You don't see this every day."
This is at least the third time the building has had to be moved. Its most recent relocation was to make way for the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance; this trip is to get out of the way of Williams College's planned dormitory on Stetson Court.
Mather House is moving around the corner to 63 North St., where Guntlow & Associates will use it for offices and possibly apartments.
Its next-door neighbor Harper House hasn't been so lucky. No buyer had come forward for the building, and so the 1850 structure is expected to be demolished.
The move had been scheduled for Monday but postponed because of the wet, snowy weather.
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