![]() ![]() Many of his residential projects were designed for friends and acquaintances, such as Bonny Bank, the home of John Church in Great Barrington, and One West Street in Lenox Massachusetts. Vance was very active in the social life of the Berkshires and utilized his social connections to build his career. During the heyday of the little theater movement in the United States, Vance helped organized Pittsfield's Town Players, a theater group that is still active today it was Vance who suggested the group's name. He was particularly known for his comic roles. He appeared in a number of local stage productions, in both straight plays and operettas. Vance was also very interested in the theater. When the Country Club purchased its current site, Vance was responsible for converting the mansion there into the club house. He was one of the founding members of the Country Club of Pittsfield, and was captain of the Club's golf team for many years. The current grandstand, largely based on Vance's design, was finally constructed after his death. In the 1940s, he made plans for a new grandstand, which were put on hold because of the government's need for building material in World War II. Vance designed many improvements to the city's old grandstand at Wahconah Park. ![]() He became an early supporter of Pittsfield's professional baseball team, the Hillies, and for two years in the 1920s was president of the city's ball club. His interest in baseball continued into later life. While at Urbana, Vance was a pitcher for their baseball team, and it was said that he pitched a no-hit, no-run game. Vance became Francis Allen's partner in 1897 and remained associated with Allen until 1902. Church lived in nearby Great Barrington so he decided to remain in Pittsfield and make his career there. Vance enjoyed life in Berkshire County - his MIT friend and fellow architecture student John H. In 1894, Vance was sent to Pittsfield in western Massachusetts to supervise the construction of the Berkshire County Savings Bank building. He left MIT in 1891 without taking a degree and began work in the office of architect Francis R. He then attended Urbana University in Ohio, before studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Several buildings he designed are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.īorn in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on January 22, 1868, Vance was educated in the public schools there. McElfatrick), the Allen Hotel - originally the Park Hotel - (1915), and the Frank Howard Building (1916) - all in Pittsfield Bascom Lodge (1932-1937) atop Mount Greylock, the state's highest peak and the Hotel Aspinwall in Lenox, Massachusetts (1902), which burned to the ground in 1931. Among the buildings he designed are the Colonial Theatre (1903, with J. ![]() He also pursued projects in neighboring states. Much of his work was centered in Pittsfield, then a thriving commercial, industrial and resort city, but he was also commissioned by clients elsewhere in Berkshire County. His portfolio comprised residential, commercial, industrial and recreational buildings. Joseph McArthur Vance (Janu– December 14, 1948) was a prominent architect in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. ![]()
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