"STONOVER" RESIDENCE OF THE MISSES PARSONS, LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS

      
     "Stonover", was developed by John Edward Parsons, counselor of the American Sugar Refining Company. The house was built, divided, moved, and rebuilt as death made changes in the family.

The house of the first minister for The Church of Lenox Hill-Top, the Rev. Samuel Munson, stood on the site of "Stonover".

  In 1885, the Valley Gleaner reported, "Mr. John E. Parsons' additions to his already sizable mansion are approaching completion with its adjuncts of stable, lodge house, forest, field, and beautiful outlooks over lake and mountain."

  

"Stonover" Residence of Mr. John E. Parsons, LENOX, Mass

    
     By 1921 Architects Delano & Aldrich had transformed the grand Victorian landmark into a sophisticated French country house. 

     Architecture critic Augusta Owen Patterson described the new "Stonover" as one of "those smart smaller houses which are becoming, in our almost servant-less country, more popular every day."  Describing the interior, Patterson wrote, "The core of the present house was a very old homestead, of which the architects took what they wanted and then proceeded to build rooms around it to produce the engaging results.

        The clients were two conservation-minded sisters, Mary and Gertrude Parsons, who had inherited the stately old family house in Lenox from their father. They had long lived under stern paternal control.  Now in their early 50's, the sisters began to enjoy their money. While still in mourning, they took off for China, motoring to distant exotic places in their chauffeur-driven car shipped from home. Back in Lenox, they began to plan a new country house with Delano & Aldrich.  

    Six years after the house was finished, her younger sister, Gertrude, died of pneumonia in Florence on a winter trip. Not long afterward, Mary's brother, Herbert Parsons, died in a freak accident while demonstrating a motorbike to his son at "Stonover Farm".

"STONOVER" RESIDENCE OF THE MISSES PARSONS, LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS
DELANO & ALDRICH, ARCHITECTS

   The L-shaped configuration of the service wing and garage had the rambling informality of a grouping of French agricultural buildings.    

Moving the old "Stonover" deeper into the property, the architects set it amid a grove of majestic elms. 

      The square wooden house originally situated at the top of the hill was removed to the slope, where the site was determined by the natural placing of trees. The building was pulled apart and added to and rebuilt around old rooms for sentimental rather than structural reasons.

The new "Stonover" would be one of the last of the graciously appointed places built in the Berkshires before the Depression.

    One approached the house along an extended driveway past the crown of the hill where the old house had stood and descended into a sheltering courtyard.

Another view of the residence of Miss Mary and Miss Gertrude Parsons at Lenox shows how pleasantly it is set and how well it is embraced with trees.

   

CONNECTING WALL TO ICE-HOUSE, GARAGES, ETC.

    The house is of yellowish stucco and the woodwork is blue.   The walls are of the same material as the building, with coping of variegated green and purple slates like the roof of the house.

The yellowish gray stucco of the house was trimmed a vivid blue around casement windows, French doors, dormers, and eaves. Flanked by a pair of box planters, the arched front door was trimmed with rough faced stone. 

     One stepped from the graveled courtyard directly through the arch and recessed door into a small, square vestibule.

Summertime parties spilled out onto the wide grass terrace, which wrapped around three sides of the house. A low stucco wall surrounded the terrace, forming a natural seat for extra guests. Two splendid stone urns graced the corners. Rambling roses tumbled over the wall and around the terrace doorways. 

   Surrounded by old Berkshire elms, it is the oldest place in the Lenox country, commanding a beautiful view from the south side.

GARDEN TERRACE

DETAIL OF SOUTH FRONT.

THE WHOLE SOUTH SIDE ON THE GROUND FLOOR IS OCCUPIED BY THE LIBRARY, FINISHED IN PANELLED BUTTERNUT.

VIEW FROM TERRACE.

    The most important room was a large paneled library centered on the south side with two bay windows and French doors opening onto the terrace.

TERRACE ON THE SOUTH SIDE. 

VIEW OF HOUSE FROM SOUTH.

  

"STONOVER FARM"

   "Stonover Farm" was built in 1890 by John Parsons as the farm house for the Parsons' estate. At the turn of the century the farmhouse became the home of his son Herbert Parsons, a New York Congressman and his wife Elsie Crews (who was one of the first female anthropologists). 

FARMHOUSE

"STONOVER FARM" BED & BREAKFAST

    Although it was one of the most recently constructed, best-appointed, and well-maintained Lenox country houses, "Stonover" was not destined to long outlive its mistress. After Mary Parsons died in 1940, the next-door neighbors purchased the property to protect their own view and demolished the house. 

    wikimapia.org location.