To begin the interior restoration and renovation of the Springside House, Pittsfield officials must secure a match from the City Council for the $500,000 Save America’s Treasures grant that the city has been awarded for the project.
PITTSFIELD — With the lure of a fistful of cash, the federal government has come knocking on the long-closed front door to Springside House, gateway to the park that is Pittsfield's central recreation attraction.
Mayor Linda Tyer, along with representatives from the city’s Department of Community Development, on Tuesday announced that the federal government has provisionally awarded the city a $500,000 grant toward restoring the interior of the Spingside House, a structure that seemed doomed to decay and disuse since the Pittsfield Parks Department in 2007 left the 1850s era building and moved to City Hall.
The provisional aspect: The federal grant evaporates unless the City Council votes to match it with $500,000 in city money. With the $1 million, which would still be far from what is needed to complete the project, construction on the house's interior could start as early as this fall.
Tyer said she plans to bring a request to the City Council at its Feb. 14 meeting for a $500,000 contribution from the city’s more than $17 million in free cash.
"We're pretty excited about this, and we hope to have the support of the City Council and the community," Tyer said. "I know the community values Springside House and Springside Park, and so this is another big step in making sure that the park and the house are being used to their best potential."
Tyer said covering the city’s portion with free cash is more prudent than borrowing the money and increasing the city’s debt. Free cash is the unrestricted funds left over from the city budgets and operations of the prior fiscal year. Borrowing money for the project would also require a City Council vote.
A reopening to the public is a considerable distance away. That's because city officials estimate that interior renovations will cost $3.5 million, so the combined federal and city contributions will only close the gap to $2.5 million. Tyer said the city is still looking for additional sources of money.
The new round of interior work would focus on preserving historic fixtures like the tin ceilings and old fireplaces, increasing the accessibility of what will once again be public spaces as well as making structural improvements to extend the longevity of the building.
To date, the city has put $1.5 million into exterior renovations at the Springside House.
Exterior renovations covered the installation of new historically appropriate six-over-six windows, a new roof, the preservation of several long forgotten “light wells” and the house’s looming 10-foot chimney. The building was also repainted in its original goldenrod following a paint assessment by historians at the University of Massachusetts.
While walking on Monday through the now empty rooms with peeling wallpaper and slanted parquet floors, Jim McGrath, the city’s parks, open space and natural resource program manager, reminisced about his early career and the busyness of the building.
Park, Open Space and Natural Resource Program Manager Jim McGrath leads the way through the historic Springside House at Springside Park in Pittsfield, where the city’s parks department used to be housed.
Moving through the sometimes tight hallways, McGrath called out the groups that claimed the dozens of Springside House rooms: the speed skating club, the junior football team, the youth baseball organizations (Little League and Babe Ruth League) and, for a time during World War II, the city’s Civil Defense Department.
“Springside House is everyone’s house,” McGrath said. “We want to make certain that there is equal access and opportunity [to it], and that we celebrate this place and restore it to its full potential.”
Mayor Linda Tyer and Park, Open Space and Natural Resource Program Manager Jim McGrath on Tuesday walk through the rooms on the third floor at the Springside House in Springside Park.
The federal grant, part of the Save America’s Treasures program, is overseen by the National Park Service and focuses on “the preservation and celebration of ... the enduring symbols of American tradition that define us as a nation,” according to the park service’s website. The prestigious grant may be awarded to a site only once.
Springside House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The result of the completed exterior works was that the aging house, which sat vacant from about 2007 onward, was transformed from something that resembled a depressed Halloween fright house to a space that is attracting attention for its gleaming possibilities, McGrath said.
“A lot of folks are dreaming about what it’s going to be, what can it be,” he said. “That’s our job to sort of turn those ideas into a reality.”
Front of mind in the department’s planning are conversations the city started in 2014 around Springside House renovations estimated to cost $2.2 million. There was talk of converting the space to a visitor or environmental center, a museum or exhibition space, with the addition of one or two apartment units to help generate income from the building.
The residential use probably is not on the 2023 drawing board, McGrath said, although the space did serve as a home for a prior Parks Department director and his family and temporary housing for the city’s AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers.
The Pittsfield Parks Department left the 1850s-era Springside House in 2007 and moved to City Hall. The city has been awarded a federal grant to help restore the interior and exterior of the building.
Opportunities for a visitor space or environmental focus are still very much on the table. McGrath said renovations could create a landing spot for one of the environmental or park stewardship organizations the city works with. There also are likely to be new community and event spaces for public gatherings and meetings.