Historical Society Revives Sanborn Mansion
By Devin Loftus | Online Only | July 1, 2010
The Sanborn House in Winchester, Mass., an early-20th-century Beaux Arts mansion with a rich yet unstable past, has a promising future.
Oren Sanborn, son of James Sanborn of Chase & Sanborn Coffee, purchased the 9.5-acre property in 1904. Aigremont, as Sanborn called the house, was designed by architects Clinton M. Hill and Thomas M. James, who completed the project in 1908.
Currently the headquarters of the Winchester Historical Society, the structure will become the community's Historical and Cultural Center when its restoration is completed in two years. An exterior restoration, under way now, is slated to be completed within a year.
The Town of Winchester, which owned the house since 1969, formerly used the mansion for its Recreation Department. Yet the once-opulent house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, was vacant by 2003. Two years later, the Massachusetts Historical Commission recognized the Sanborn House as endangered property. That's when the Winchester Historical Society made the Sanborn House its home and restoration was able to progress.
Despite ongoing restoration work, the Sanborn House is very being used for art exhibitions, educational programs such as etiquette classes and art classes, and meetings for local groups and businesses. It will soon serve as the location of the town archives.
"The grace of this mansion—the unique, Beaux Arts architecture—[it] is a place where people can proudly have their functions," says Bob Colt, president of the Winchester Historical Society.
Colt's group has already seen a rise in membership and rentals, which help fund the restoration. "Everything has been an upswing," Colt says. The society recently received a $45,000 grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission and hopes to raise $1.2 million for the restoration.
Phase one of the restoration focused on the first floor, roof, veranda, windows, and other elements. During phase two, currently under way, workers are restoring the house's exterior and installing handicapped-accessible features.
"[The Winchester Historical Society] is totally committed to handicapped accessibility while preserving the integrity of the house," Colt says.
The society hopes to receive a grant from Save America's Treasures to cover the restoration of a large, stained-glass art piece over the house's front entrance. (Those grants will be announced in December.) The society must raise at least $500,000 for the third phase of restoration, which will address the kitchen, second floor, and mechanical systems.
The Sanborn House is the only local mansion to be restored for public use, Colt says, and the project is moving ahead thanks to strong community support.
"It's a shared mission," he says. "Preserve the past and build for the future."
Take a tour of the Sanborn House
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