Below left is the interior of the main room of the Oliver Ames Memorial Library (1877-1879). Richardson is famous for his libraries, but not with librarians! At right is a firplace surround by Stanford White. The medallion (Oliver Ames) is by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The chair is by Richardson. |
The Ames Family of North Easton, MA, provided several projects for Richardson. Five buildings were built in North Easton, the largest concentration of Richardson buildings in such a small area. |
Below left is the interior of the main room of the Oliver Ames Memorial Library (1877-1879). Richardson is famous for his libraries, but not with librarians! At right is a firplace surround by Stanford White. The medallion (Oliver Ames) is by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The chair is by Richardson. |
At right is the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall (1879-1881), originally given to the town of Easton by the Ames Family for use as a Town Hall. For a variety of reasons it's function has mainly been as meeting space for private groups. The Ames Memorial Library is at the far right. |
Richardson also built a train station (the Ames' were heavily involved with railroads), the Ames Gate Lodge (one of Richardson's most famous buildings), and a house for the Ames' gardner. Unity Church in North Easton, although not designed by Richardson, is based, some say, on Richardson's first project, a church in Springfield, MA - no longer extant. Inside the church is another memorial to one of the Ames'. Richardson designed the "backdrop", a carved piece of sandstone. The church also contains two of John LaFarge's largest stained glass windows, one of which was recently restored. |
Between 1879 and 1882 another monument to members of the Ames Family was erected. While in Congress, Oakes Ames was asked to find financing to complete the intercontinental railroad. The ensuing Credit Mobilier scandal resulted in Oakes being one of the first congressmen to be censured. Of course, his family and the board of the Union Pacific Railroad (headed by F.L. Ames) thought otherwise. Richardson was commissioned to erect a monument near the highest elevation of the railroad, near the no longer town of Sherman, in Wyoming. |
The monument once was visible from the tracks, but the line was later moved south. Now the monument stands alone off of an exit on I-80 between Cheyenne & Laramie. The pyramid is also a monument to Oliver Ames II, former president of the railroad. Busts of the two men were designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. |
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