{"id":288,"date":"2013-09-09T22:56:44","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T02:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getitright.pmss.net\/?page_id=288"},"modified":"2021-05-28T20:57:58","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T00:57:58","slug":"boys-house-library","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/staging.pinemountainsettlement.net\/?page_id=288","title":{"rendered":"BOY’S HOUSE (LIBRARY)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Pine Mountain Settlement School
\nSeries 10:\u00a0Built Environment (Physical Plant)<\/h5>\n

Boy’s House (Library)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Boy’s House (Library) – Construction dates: 1919-1920<\/strong>
\nArchitect: Mary Rockwell Hook, with input by the Zandes<\/strong>
\nValuation: 1926 Building and Equipment: $12,159.64<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Boy's<\/a>

Boy’s House. Facade. Early view. Upper porch intact. [II_08_boys_house_323d.jpg]<\/p><\/div>BOY’S HOUSE (LIBRARY): EARLY CONSTRUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boy’s House was constructed in 1919-1920. It was financed through a gift from J.S. Duncan<\/a> of Chicago, the inventor of the Addressograph<\/a> and a Pine Mountain School trustee. Called “Boy’s Housen” the building was constructed as a dormitory for boys during the early boarding school years. \u00a0When the boarding school closed in 1949, the building served the new Community School and later as a community center which housed a lending library — hence the second name “Library”.<\/p>\n

In 1926 the valuation of the building was $12,159.64.<\/p>\n

Mary Rockwell Hook<\/a>\u00a0the master architect of the School, designed the original building plans for the dormitory but Ethel de Long Zande<\/a> felt that Hook’s plans called for too much depth which signaled too much cost. She and her husband,\u00a0Luigi Zande<\/a>, then laid off the building themselves on a narrower plan. At this point, it is unclear who had the final say. There is evidence in a letter from Mrs.\u00a0Zande to Mrs. Hook that the final execution of the building plan may have been that of Mary Hook, for Mrs. Zande thanks Hook for some plans she had sent. It is possible that Hook designed the house on the guidelines that the Zandes required.<\/p>\n

The physical structure of the building consisted of\u00a0fifteen rooms: two student bathrooms, one workers’ bathroom, seven double rooms, and two four-bed rooms for students. There is evidence of four toilets, four wash sinks, three urinals, and four showers. “The living room is large and comfortably furnished, but rather dark,” noted one observer. This dark interior is commented on by several workers.<\/p>\n

There is evidence of remodeling during the 1940’s and The Pine Cone<\/em> (October 1940) notes that a Boy’s House remodeling program got underway that year just after school closed for summer vacation.<\/p>\n

BOYS’ HOUSE REMODELED<\/p>\n

“The purpose [of the remodel]\u00a0 was to make the building more modern for pleasant living. The crowded sleeping porches have been replaced by rooms which accommodate two boys. The rooms are furnished with two beds, two lockers, one bureau with a mirror, a picture drawn by John A. Spelman III, and the things the boys own themselves. ONe new bathroom was installed while the other was remodeled, the latter getting only one new shower. The workers’ bathroom received one coat of paint. The most comfortable room is the living room which adjoins the housemother’s room. The three pine easy chairs near the fireplace were products of the woodwork shop. New floors have been put in and sealed. The boys are now enjoying a new and roomier Boys’ House along with more privacy and comfort.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The balcony seen in the early photographs was removed at a later date, possibly in the early 1930’s [?] and is most likely a remnant of the earlier sleeping porch, a feature in most all the early dormitories. The building was converted to a library, archives, and offices in 1959 and was re-named the “Library” at that time. The funds for the Library remodel came from<\/p>\n

BOY’S HOUSE (LIBRARY): LIBRARY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the removal of the library collections from the Burkham Memorial School House after the closure of the Community School, Boy’s House began to be known as the “Library” and today the building is also recognized by that name. At that time it also became the site of the Pine Mountain Room<\/strong>, a designated location for the collections of archival material about the School. Further, the building has been used variously as an exhibit and program area and offices for the Environmental Education program, the Community Outreach Coordinator programs, and the Grow Appalachia program have<\/p>\n

Further, the building has been used variously as an exhibit and program area and offices for the Environmental Education program, the Community Outreach Coordinator programs, and the Grow Appalachia program. Other programs and staff have also been housed in or used the building for group assembly. \u00a0Recently Pine Mountain School’s rich archival collections were returned\u00a0to the building from the Office, where they were housed. \u00a0By 2016 plans were underway for a major remodel of the facility through funding from the ARC (Appalachian Regional Commission). The remodel will allow for additional multi-purposing of the building space for archives, exhibits, and Environmental Education programming as well as to house the growing Gift Shop. In March of 2017 the Gift Shop, originally housed in Old Log, was moved to the main Living Room area of the house and into the old Pine Mountain archive room\u00a0and the Native American collections were moved to the conference room or old gymnasium area. As<\/p>\n

In March of 2017 the Gift Shop, originally housed in Old Log, was moved to the main Living Room area of the house and into the old Pine Mountain archive room\u00a0and the Native American collections, part of the Environmental Education program were moved to the conference room or old gymnasium area. As the renovation of the space in the building continues, the various rooms will most likely be shifted further.<\/p>\n

The collections moved [2016] from the Office are now located in the Library reading room and plans are underway for a remodel of the area to house the remaining archival materials now held in West Wind<\/a>. The move will provide greater access to the historical materials for scholars and the community and for the first time in over fifty years bring the entire archival collections together in one location.<\/p>\n

The Library conference room, formerly a gymnasium and later a weaving room, has been converted to a large meeting room as well as housing the Native American collections used in EE instruction. \u00a0The original library book collections stored in the gymnasium area have been thinned and removed to the Library shelving area. Collections that focus on the EE botanical program (E.J. Carr Botanical Collection<\/a>\u00a0– Books) will be moved to the Boys House\/Library where there will be more bibliographic control of the material. Some West Wind holdings, such as financial records will remain at West Wind for the present time, and only materials critical for researchers will be moved to the new archival space in Boys House. Specifically, this will include the processed materials of the Berea microfilm <\/a>project.<\/p>\n

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Back to BUILT ENVIRONMENT<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n
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GALLERY: Boy’s House (Library)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t