Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-05-13
THE BATTELL BLOCK.

>bF. Joseph Battell on Friday las beA
Came the owner of the site of the Crook
cry" 1t is on the east side of Main
street and extends from the creek north
to the lot Mr.. Battell recently bought of
Columbus Smith, Esq. The "Rookery"
property was in 1856 decided by Mr.. II.
L. Sheldon, its owner, to the Sheldon
Art museum, the trustees of which have
conveyed it to Mr.. Battell. The consid-
GRAFTON is an annual payment to Mr..
Sheldon, as trustee of the museum, of
S240 during his lifetime and of SlG0 a
year to the trustees of the museum there
after.
The acquisition of the additional lan1
makes possible the erection of a uniform
block all the way from the bridge around
the corner and up Merchants Row to the
railroad bridge, with frontage of about
100 feet on Main street and of 1GS on the
Row. The block will have solid brick
walls and will he two stories in height
above the street. On the main floor the
ceilings will be If feet high and on the
upper floor II. The four stores on the
Row will be GO feet deep. The one next
the railroad, to be occupied by Mr.. Allan
Calhoun, will have frontage of about
26 feet. Next west of him will be Mr.. r.
). Benedict's store, with frontage of
about - feet. Then will come Il store with
a 40-foot front, which Mr.. +. =. Cushman
will have; and west of this, with front
age of about 30 feet, will he store for
Farnsworth & Co. West of the Farms
worth store, and cutting the block in two
from the bottom of the cellar to point
sufficiently high above the roof, will be
a fire wall of the most approved construc-
ton. OF course it will not make much
of a show from the outside or from the
inside either, for that matter, nor will it
break the continuity of the block; but it
will efiectually guard against the spread
of fire from one part to the other. On
the corner of the Row and Main street
will be IA store about rs by 4S feet in size,
and fronting on hoth streets, which
Chapman & Co. are to use. South of this
will be two stores of 20 feet frontage
each the first about Sc feet deep and the
second about 46 feet. Then will come a
room II feet wide and about 80 deep, and,
lastly, one ii feet wide and 30 deep. The
one last mentioned is designed to form
the front room of restaurant, the din
ing room of which, 20 by 40 feet in size,
will be in the rear, with windows opening
on the river to the south and overlooking
it on the east. On the north side of the
dining room will be a pastry room and
closets for dishes, etc., and beyond these,
but not directly communicating with the
dining room, will be an ample kitchen.
So much for the main floor. The figures
of dimensions given are not absolutely
correct III all cases, but approximate
near enough the truth for general de-
scription. The upper story of the Mer-
chants Row portion will be divided into
offices of snch dimensions as may be
thought desirable later on. DR.. Mellen
is to have three connected rooms over
Chapman & Co.'S corner store, with an
operating room on the corner, where he
can get light from the north, northwest
and west. Mr.. Jackson will have the
rooms over the restaurant, with a large
and well-lghted operating room over the
dining room and kitchen.
Work on the block has progressed rap
idly the past week. The old cotton fac
tory walls are being pulled down and the
stone used for the foundations of the
block, the puttlng-in of which was begun
on Monday. The wall on the Main street
side at the creek is to be "A feet high.
Some idea of the size of the block and of
the work there will be in building it may
be gained from the statement that there
are over 25OO perch in the foundation
walls alone.