SPRINGFIELD – Christopher Albrecht has spent the last year restoring 120-year-old windows to their original glory. He restored a lily and a shamrock in stained glass and made unusual discoveries.
“All the glass is a quarter-inch thick. I think it helped with soundproofing,” said Albrecht, owner of Chris' Carpentry of Woodstock, Connecticut. “In an office, I finance two panes put together in an office that is probably used for psychiatry to muffle the noise.”
Typically window glass is 1/8Th until 1/16Th inches thick, so the original windows were exceptional, he said.
The task was one of many undertaken to restore the Kilroy House on the grounds of the Springfield Museums. The year-long project also repaired and restored the building's terracotta roof, repaired stucco trim and reclaimed doors.
This week, city officials met with museum leaders and volunteers to celebrate the completion of the restoration and thank the Community Preservation Act program for preserving a building with a long history.
“It's Mission Revival architecture, which is not popular in the Northeast. This is one of only three or four Mission Revival houses in Springfield – and the interior is fabulous,” said Robert McCarroll, a member of the Community Preservation Committee as well as the Springfield Preservation Trust and the Springfield Historical Commission.
The interior, which features an Arts and Crafts motif, is full of original oak woodwork that has never been painted, hardwood floors, an ornate fireplace and many details that make the building a well-preserved building, he said.
Like many historic buildings, it has been used in a variety of ways and now serves as offices for the Springfield Museums, said Kay Simpson, president of the nonprofit organization.
It was written by Dr. Phillip Kilroy, who lived and practiced medicine there. He was a teenager when his parents immigrated to Springfield from Ireland. He earned degrees from several universities, including Harvard Medical School and the University of Vienna, and became a specialist in neurology, dermatology and psychiatry.
Douglas Hook
It is common for doctors to have offices in their homes, Dr. Mark Keroack, the retired president and CEO of Baystate Health, who grew up on 16 acres where his father, a general practitioner, ran his practice in an office attached to their home.
In his retirement, Keroack serves as chairman of the Springfield Museums Board of Trustees. He said the $500,000 grant, awarded in multiple installments by the Historic Preservation Committee, would be invaluable to the museum's preservation and protection of the building.
The entire project, which involved renovating the exterior, cost approximately $800,000. The Community Preservation Act actually funded $587,231.27, which made a big difference in getting the work done, Simpson said.
It's not the first project the Community Preservation Committee has funded on the site. The board also helped replace the Science Museum's roof, restored the prized Tiffany stained glass windows at the Smith Art Museum and is now helping remodel the Blake House, she said.
Restoration projects are difficult, expensive and laborious. There are other historic buildings on the museum's campus, so the money for preservation is a godsend, Simpson said. Additionally, the money can sometimes be used to help the museum receive larger federal grants, which require a 50% stake.
Albrecht reported on the detailed work on restoring the windows and doors.
Every pane of glass had to be removed. The window sills were repaired, restored and repainted before the glass was replaced. The sash weights and cords were replaced to allow the windows to open, and interior windows were installed to give the building another layer of insulation, he said.
There are several unique stained glass windows, including a series of four that included the shamrock in homage to Kilroy's homeland, the lily, and two other flowers, he said.
“It was a real pleasure to really work on it,” he said.
For a video tour of the home, visit Focus Springfield https://youtu.be/jfaLxrQ7gAM.
