Bennington building demolished, to be replaced by multi-use building
The property has had many uses the past 50 years, most recently as a storage facility.
BENNINGTON - An unremarkable beige building sits at the bottom of the hill on Main Street heading toward the Bennington Museum from town. This structure - once a gas station, then restaurant, then the Precious Moments gift shop - has changed hands many times over the past five decades. In 2008, the museum purchased this property and has been using it as a convenient storage location for mechanical and maintenance equipment since then.
In 2019, Christoff/Finio Architects provided a full-scope overview and conceptual plan for Bennington Museum and talked about the potential for the ancillary space. This past year, as the community emerges from the pandemic’s grip, the board of trustees at Bennington Museum approved a plan to develop a new use for the property.
The demolition of the structure will take place this month and is expected to last several weeks. Goldstone Architecture has been selected to lead a charette, an in-depth discussion, with staff and other key stakeholders to determine the best future use for the site and to create preliminary designs for a new building. This Bennington-based firm has recently completed work with Shires Housing, SVSU, and most notably designed the new addition at the Bennington Recreation Center. Currently they are working with the town of Bennington and a private owner in the redevelopment of the old Bennington High building on Main Street.
Goldstone Architecture plans to work closely with the landscape architect Terrigenous to develop a schematic site plan that will integrate the annex building plans with the streetscape and surrounding environment. In addition to a new multi-use building, the site will be connected to the main museum by paths that will span the significant elevation change between the two properties.
Bennington Museum welcomes input and comments from the public on this community project. Feel free to contact the museum and let them know any thoughts about the future of this space by writing to ideas@benningtonmuseum.org.
