Babcock-Smith House Museum
124 Granite Street
Westerly, RI 02891
401-596-5704
bsh1734@verizon.net
Babcock-Smith House Museum |
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Page in Progress Westerly Town Hall |
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The Westerly Town Hall and Court House was cut in 1912 by the New England Granite Works. It is made from red Westerly Granite quarried from the Batterson Quarry on Old Hopkinton Road. It has several notable features. First, the major part of the finish, the field, is a rock face finish. |
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The details around the windows and at the corners are a hammered finish, providing an effective contrast to the rough face of the field. Note the quoin, the exterior angle of the building where the large stones are dressed and arranged to form a decorative contrast with the adjoining walls. |
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The columns are drum columns. That is, they are cut in sections reminiscent of the shape of a snare drum. The joints in the columns are clearly visible. Drum columns do not require the massive single pieces of granite that are needed by one-piece columns. The challenge with drum columns is cutting and setting them so that they have the appearance and the structural stability of a single column. These columns are turned on a lathe to a tooled finish. |
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© 2009 Babcock-Smith House Museum |
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