South Mountain Company

Martha’s Vineyard’s integrated design/build company

Dear Reader,
This blog is now an archive. John Abrams (Founder of South Mountain, author of this blog, and a book of the same name) retired on December 31, 2022. All posts published up until this date are preserved below.

For updates on John's next chapter, visit abramsangell.com.

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Oudens Ello Architecture

A Museum For MV? By South Mountain?

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For more than a decade I have had a low-grade obsession with the St Pierre property in Vineyard Haven, the site of an old Marine Hospital that sits high on a bluff overlooking Lagoon Pond and the Vineyard Harbor beyond.   The evocative 4.4 acre property is a short walk from downtown.  It is surrounded by small lots with small homes.

The imposing wood-frame hospital was built in 1895 by the U.S. government to treat soldiers, sailors, and their families.  In 1935 they expanded with a brick addition on the rear and continued to operate the hospital.  When it closed in the mid-fifties the St Pierre family bought it and operated it as a school and summer camp (and then just a summer camp) for 50 years.  In 2007 Barbara St Pierre, daughter of the founders of the St Pierre School, ceased operation.  The 10,000 SF building is in a state of disrepair, but it still has very good bones and begs for new life.

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