Chesterwood
All Work | Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA
Chesterwood
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Scope
Administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Chesterwood was the summer home and studio of the American sculptor Daniel Chester French, best known for his statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Chesterwood was where he created the famous statue, as well as many of his remarkable sculptural works. The studio was designed by the architect of the Lincoln Memorial, Henry Bacon. A unique feature of the building is a rail system that allowed French to roll his large sculptures out of the studio to examine them in the sunlight.
The NTHP selected JHPArchitects PC to prepare a preservation Master Plan for the house and site, and a conditions survey and report of the existing dry-laid masonry foundation walls of French’s studio, and to determine how to halt the chronic seepage of groundwater into the studio’s cellar and prevent frost heave of the studio’s floor supports.
Together with structural and geotechnical engineers, JHPArchitects PC developed a strategy for waterproofing the highly irregular exterior face of the studio’s foundation wall, as well as a plan for draining the interior of the basement. In addition, the firm designed a historically referential wooden ADA access ramp.