Barre's Old Labor Hall

Interior Architectural Description

The interior of Barre Old Labor Hall is divided into three sections, the basement, the two story front section of the building, and the hall area in the rear portion of the structure. All measurements are estimated to the nearest foot.

The first floor plan of the Labor Hall is made up of two areas, the front rooms and entrance composing one area and the meeting hall to the rear. All of the windows on the first and second floors of the building are 1/1 sash windows with flat stock trim. The ceilings in the entrance and two rooms are nine feet high. The stair hall which measures 10'x18', is accessed from the outside through double leaf, five panel doors. This space contains a stairway leading upstairs along the southwest wall and a doorway accessing the northeast room. The stair hall flows into the southwest room through a large opening in the wall. A southeast door opens into the meeting hall and a door behind the stairs leads to the basement.

The northeast room is 19'x25' and retains much of its original fabric. The main architectural elements in this room include its maple flooring, pressed tin ceiling, bead board dado, windows, and plaster walls. There are three windows on the northwest wall and two on its northeast wall all having flat stock trim. A modern door has been added to the southeast wall to allow access to the meeting hall.

The southwest room is 17'x25' and has gone through some change over time. Modern wall paneling (craftwall) and ceiling materials are in the process of being removed to reveal the original plaster surfaces. There are three windows on the northwest wall and three on the southwest wall. A large opening approximately eight feet wide has been created in the southeast wall of this room that enters into the meeting hall. The remains of a small, 4'x4' restroom are located in the northeast corner of the room.

The meeting hall area occupies the southeast portion of the structure and measures 48'x83' with 13' ceilings. A 9'x14' room has been constructed at some point in time in the north corner of this space. On the southwest elevation two large freight doors open out to a loading platform. Much of the meeting hallís original fabric remains having been encapsulated by a drop ceiling and false walls in some locations. The main architectural elements of this space include the engaged decorative posts and beams, the maple flooring, windows and bead board dado and plaster walls and ceilings. The engaged posts and beams are nonstructural and run at twelve foot intervals along the length of the meeting hall. The dado wraps the lower portion of the post with the remaining area of the post covered in plaster. At ceiling height the post meets a boxed beam constructed out of beaded board and flat stock. These beams span the width of the hall. On some of the posts are intact remains of the decorative scheme they were painted in. This pattern consists of a blue-gray on the dado, brown on the chair rail, and a type of grained finish on the plaster part of the post. Just above the dado and below the beam on the post are stencils applied in gold finish. On a few areas of the wall surfaces are remnants of earlier finishes including stenciled ornament, and painted patterns.

On the second floor of the front portion of the building are three rooms, one occupying the area northeast of the stairs and two rooms to the southwest side. All of the rooms have been remodeled with drop ceilings and craftwall, although visible behind these layers is evidence of earlier decorative schemes including moldings and stenciled patterns. The northeast room is 28'x25' with four windows on the northwest wall and two on the northeast wall. The southwest room is 18'x13' and has three windows on it northwest wall and one on the southwest wall. Southeast of this room is a 15'x12' room. The window on the southwest wall has been closed up.

Two stores were located in the basement with a brick party wall dividing them down the length of the building. At the northwest end a stairway between the stores allowed access to the upper floor. Each store had an outside entrance and large window at its northwest end. The windows have been bricked up. The windows that run along the northeast and southwest walls are three-pane single sash, some of which had been bric'ked closed. The northeast room is 18'x73' with two smaller rooms to its southeast, one 18'x25 and the other 13'x10'. The southwest area is 27íx 108í and is divided into five rooms along its length by brick partitions. Each space is approximately 27'x20'. The remaining original fabric in theses rooms includes the narrow tongue and groove maple flooring, tin ceiling, window sash, and beaded board dado and plaster walls. The integrity of the space has not been altered and remains much the way it would have appeared c. 1910.

 

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