The Lenox Village Historic District is a
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
encompassing the historic village center of
Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The town is based in Western Massachusetts and part of the Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,095 at the 2020 census. Lenox is the site of Shakespeare & Company and T ...
. Settled in the 1760s, Lenox was the second county seat of
Berkshire County, a role it served until 1868, and its early economic success revolved around this role and local mining industries. The village center is reflective of this early role, as well as its later role as a hub for wealthy vacationers. The district was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2022.
Description and history
The Lenox Village Historic District includes substantially all of the main village of Lenox. It is anchored at its south end by the four-way junction of Main Street, West Street, Old Stockbridge Road, and Walker Street, where a cluster of civic buildings are located. Immediately to the north and east are a network of streets where there are purpose-built commercial buildings, and older homes that have mostly been converted to commercial use. The northern end of the district is marked by the
Church on the Hill, an 1805 Federal-style edifice built for a congregation founded in 1769.
Lenox was first settled in the early 1760s as part of
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, a town that was geographically divided by a substantial ridge. Lenox was incorporated in 1767. Its central location in the county led to its designation as the county seat in 1784. Its original courthouse, finished in 1791, is now a commercial establishment on Housatonic Street. Its second is the front-facing portion of the
Lenox Library, also separately listed on the National Register. The outer fringes of the district include larger residential properties, dating to its period as a center for large summer estates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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See also
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenox Village Historic District
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Lenox, Massachusetts