The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Martin Manor Martin Manor

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Institution Name: Goddard College
Original/Historic Place Name: Martin Manor
Location on Campus: Greatwood Campus of Goddard College; 123 Pitkin Rd, Plainfield, VT 05667
Date(s) of Construction:

1908	original construction Kelly, James T.

Designer: James T. Kelly
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Beaux-Arts classicism, Colonial revival, Other (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, culture, education, history
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: flagstone and granite

Walls: wood frame

Roof: asphalt shingle

Function:

ca. 1908	private residence (replaced a 1.5 story wood frame farmhouse; originally used by the Martin family as the main house for the farm and surrounding land)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	classrooms
ca. 2004-present (2006)	other (offices)

Narrative:
Martin Manor is a two-and-a-half story, low hip roofed house of a 5-bay central mass with a wing to either side. The north wing (the house faces east) extends further back than its counterpart, breaking the symmetry. The house has symmetrical hip-roofed porches projecting to either side. Each floor of this dark shingled house is separated by a white band, and the rafters project through the eaves. The central entry is flanked with adapted composite wooden columns and shaded by a projecting semi-circular balcony.

Martin Manor has great historic significance for the town of Plainfield and is a unique architecturally unique in central Vermont. The manor was photographed and discussed in an article entitled "Vermont's Finest Farm" in the March 1920 edition of Field Illustrated Magazine. The manor has been the focal point of academic programs for Goddard College since it moved to the Greatwood campus in 1938 and has maintained its original character since construction.

References:

The American Renaissance, 1876-1917. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum; New York: Pantheon, 1979.

Brett, Gerald. English Furniture and its Setting. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965.

Byron, John. New York Interiors. New York, Dover, 1976.

Coman, Katherine. The Industrial History of the United States. New York: Arno Press, 1973.

Fastnedge, Ralph. English Furniture Styles from 1500 to 1830. New York: Barnes, 1964.

Fitzgerald, Oscar. Three Centuries of American Furniture. Englewood Cliffs, NY: Prentice Hall, 1982.

Historic Sites & Structures Survey [Marshfield, including Goddard College]. Monpelier, VT: Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, 1976.

Hutchinson, Hal. Goddard College Greatwood Campus. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1996.

Kettell, Russell. Early American Rooms, 1650-1858. New York: Dover Publications, 1967.

Kirk, John T. Early American Furniture. New York: Knopf, 1970.

Lyness, Russell. The Tastemakers. New York: Harper, 1954.

Saarinen, Aline B. The Proud Professors. New York: Random House, 1958.

Sieveking, Albertus Forbes. Gardens Ancient and Modern. London: I. M. Dent & Company, 1899.

Stone, Arthur F. The Vermont of Today. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1929.

Thacker, Christopher. The History of Gardens. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1979.

Townsend, Marjorie. "Humanism class lecture." Plainfield, VT: Goddard College, February 10, 1971.

"Vermont's Finest Farms." Field Illustrated (March 1920).

Wood, Margaret. The English Medieval House. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.

Wosley, S. W., and R. W. P. Luff. Furniture in England: The Age of the Joiner. New York: Praeger, 1969.

Zirblis, R. "Interview with Townsend." April 2, 1984.