Carriage House Historic Windows Replacement
Location: 294 Old Main Road, North Falmouth MA 02556
Applicant: Housing Assistance Corporation
Allocation: $85,000
Year/Article: November 2015, A35
In 2015 the Housing Assistance Corporation (HAC) requested funding for the replacement of 46 windows in the historic Carriage House, which serves as a shelter for homeless women and their children, the only such shelter in Falmouth. The Housing Assistance Corporation purchased the property in 1989 and, with state funding, provides the service to Massachusetts families. In 2014, Carriage House served thirty-eight families.
Carriage House is a significant historic property in the North Falmouth Historic District. The family homestead that was originally on the property was built in 1772 by Samuel Nye. Frederick T. Nye became the owner around 1870, but the home burned in 1879. William C. Spencer, a summer resident from New York, then built his summer retreat “The Hedges” on the property. Two sisters from Brookline later used the home as a restaurant. Mr. Spencer had added a large horse barn behind the house in the colonial revival style. In 1904 it was remodeled with a gambrel roof, in the Morgan Barn style. For a few years in the 1960s the barn was used as a nightclub, and in 1989 the Housing Assistance Corporation purchased it for its current use. It has a capacity for ten families at a time and served thirty-eight families in 2014. A small horse barn built a few years ago has been converted into a educational center for the resident children.
The existing wooden windows in 2015 were forty years old and badly deteriorated, allowing cold air and drafts to enter the house. Their maintenance was costly. With the assistance of an historical consultant, HAC and the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) agreed on durable vinyl-coated wooden windows with the appropriate historic characteristics: multi-paned, single-glazed, wood double-hung windows that were consistent with the Colonial Revival style of the building. The CPC recommended $85,000 to Town Meeting, which appropriated that amount for the replacement project. The project was completed in 2016.