Friday, January 12, 2018

Building art by Mary

Mary often accepted architectural art projects for money, and word got around, so it wasn't all houses for vain rich people. Easton, Mass, where we grew up, has more architecture by the Gilded age architect Richardson than Boston, because he was a friend of the Ames family, the town squires. Many years later, Mary bcame a sort of court painter to them. I think virtually every building here was by him, including the wonderful public library that nourished my early reading, the Ames Free Library.
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3 comments:

Matthew in Missouri said...

My condolences upon the death of your mother. My mother too was born in 1925, and like yours in that long twilight fade. I am off to visit her soon after typing this.

Would the Ames be the Hobart Ames Family? If so, I have read of them much through Nash Buckingham. If I remember my Buckingham they are from the Boston environs.

Matthew in Missouri

Sean Leach said...

Hi Steve, I grew up in Brockton, Mass, and spent many happy hours fishing in the D.W. Fields Park lakes which were built by Oliver Ames. I also dug my share of gas line ditches for homes and businesses using Ames shovels. In retrospect that was good practice for my career as a Marine infantry officer.

Steve Bodio said...

I certainly spent a lot of time at them on my bike, closer than Easton' bigger Great Ponds-- the only thing closer was Knapp's little pond on Union Street near the Brockton line (we lived in the part of Easton called Unionville, up in the northeast corner near Brockton to the east and Stoughton to the north.

Matthew:No, they were a different family. The local Ames are indeed local; they are, as I wrote once, "shovel manufacturers turned by time and money into squires and scholars."