The Bellows Falls Times Building is a historic newspaper plant on Bridge and Island Streets in
Bellows Falls, Vermont
Bellows Falls is an incorporated village located in the town of Rockingham in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,747 at the 2020 census. Bellows Falls is home to the Green Mountain Railroad, a heritage railroad; th ...
. The complex of three buildings was developed in the 1930s by the Vermont Newspaper Corporation, and served as home for the ''Bellows Falls Times'' newspaper until 1965, when it was consolidated with other local newspapers. The main building is a particularly fine local example of Colonial Revival design. The complex was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1990.
The building complex is located on the west side of the island formed by the
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...
and the
Bellows Falls Canal
Bellows Falls Canal is a canal constructed to allow boat traffic to bypass Great Falls . The main building faces south toward Bridge Street, on the east side of the canal, with a warehouse to its north. A small wood frame former garage building stands east of the warehouse, fronting on Island Street.
Architecture
The main building is a single-story brick structure, which is particularly notable for its front facade. The brick is laid in
Flemish bond
Flemish bond is a pattern of brickwork that is a common feature in Georgian architecture. The pattern features bricks laid lengthwise (''stretchers'') alternating with bricks laid with their shorter ends exposed (''headers'') within the same cou ...
, trimmed with stone and concrete elements. A semicircular
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
shelters the main entrance, with
Tuscan column
The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but wit ...
s supporting a
modillion
A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a Cornice (architecture), cornice which helps to support them. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally transl ...
ed
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...
. The side gables have stepped ends in the Dutch Revival fashion. An ell to the rear of this building has a shed roof, and plainer styling, with a former railroad access bay at the end now enclosed to form a secondary entrance.
The warehouse is a two-story frame structure, with vertical board siding, and two rail access bays on its western (canal-facing) facade. The east facade has overhead doors for freight truck access, and also has a pedestrian entrance. The garage is a two-part structure, one with a gabled roof, the other with a
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...
ed flat roof.
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History
This complex of buildings was built in the early 1930s by the Vermont Newspaper Company, publisher of the ''Bellows Falls Times'', a weekly newspaper, as well as weeklies in other nearby communities. It was built after its previous offices in the main square were destroyed by fire. The main building was designed by Concord, New Hampshire
Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the county seat, seat of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 43,976, making it the List of municipalities ...
architect Harold Holmes Owen, and is one of Bellows Falls' most fully realized examples of Colonial Revival architecture. The complex was used by the publisher until 1965, when its operations were consolidated with those of other area publishers. The buildings have since been adaptively reused by other types of businesses.[
]
See also
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References
{{NRHP in Windham County, Vermont
Newspaper headquarters in the United States
Newspaper buildings
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Colonial Revival architecture in Vermont
Buildings and structures completed in 1931
Buildings and structures in Bellows Falls, Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Windham County, Vermont