Bennington College

Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont

Bennington College Preservation Plan (PDF) 37.6MB

Bennington College Historic District (PDF) 19.6MB

Bennington College Buildings Report (PDF) 31.2MB

Founded in 1932 as a women's liberal arts college, Bennington College is now a coeducational institution with a campus of 60 buildings on 550 acres in rural Vermont. Campus buildings and the landscape reflect an evolution from farm to estate to campus, and include an 18th-century saltbox cottage once home to the poet Robert Frost, as well as several distinctive International Style buildings. Bennington will undertake a comprehensive planning process that involves documenting its campus resources and establishing preservation priorities in the context of its existing master plan.

Bennington College received a Getty grant in 2005 for $150,000 to support campus heritage planning.

Report Summary

Purpose: Getty grant funds support the first comprehensive study of Bennington’s campus buildings, creating a basis for future development. Projects included condition assessments with documentation of condition and evolving usage, a National Register Historic District nomination, survey of property boundaries, and an illustrated archive of building documents.

Historic Designation: Founded in 1932 as a women's liberal arts college, Bennington College is now a coeducational institution with a campus of 60 buildings on 550 acres in rural Vermont. Campus buildings and the landscape reflect an evolution from farm to estate to campus, with an 18th-century saltbox cottage once home to the poet Robert Frost as well as several distinctive International Style buildings.

Style and site list

• Vernacular Farm Structures
  • Shingle Cottage (1775) (past residents include Robert Frost, W.H. Auden)
  • Former Chicken Houses
  • Brick Garden Wall (1890)
• Colonial Revival Style
  • Jennings Hall estate (1903) (Renwich, Aspinwall and Owen; currently housing music program)
  • Commons (J.W. Ames and E.S. Dodge)
  • Original student housing (many 1931-36) (J.W. Ames and E.S. Dodge)
• International Style
  • Tishman Hall (Robertson Ward)
  • Dickinson Hall (Robertson Ward)
  • Visual And Performing Arts Center (VAPAS) (Robertson Ward; among largest free-standing International structures in North America)
  • Crossett Library (Pietro Belluschi)
• Modernist Style
  • Noyes Hall (Edward Larrabee Barnes)
  • Sawtell Hall (Edward Larrabee Barnes)
  • Fels Hall (Edward Larrabee Barnes)

Planning Process

• Review 2004 Master Plan (Kyu Sung Woo Architects; Reed Hildebrand Associates)
• Engage students to survey campus and related resources (Fall 2005-December 2007)
• Engage professionals to assess campus (Centerline Architects) (late 2006-late 2007)
• Use Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties to assess past restoration work
• Use Secretary of the Interior’s Standards to create guidelines for future work
• Identify existing resources illustrating campus evolution
• Prepare Historic Preservation Plan

Outcomes: Products

• Building condition assessments with measured drawings
• Historic preservation plan noting 55 contributing buildings
• Nomination for a National Register Historic District, with almost 100 illustrations
• Compilation of Buildings Reports: Abbreviated report for each building, including a condition assessment, note of architectural / historical features, economics, photographs, setting and landscape.

Unique features:

• Student participation in campus survey, Fall 2005-December 2007
• Recycling slates from roofs of razed buildings
• Investigation of materials for insulation
• Distinction between primary spaces that should be preserved and secondary spaces where function outweighs preservation (e.g., kitchen, closet)
• Articulated concern that sandblasting may (unintentionally) raise a building surface

Advisors

Liz Pritchett Associates
Vermont Survey and Engineering
Centerline Architects