By SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writer
AMHERST — A prominent, 3½-story barn on Montague Road in North Amherst, first proposed for demolition more than a decade ago, was torn down earlier this month.
The large structure at 134 Montague Road, providing a buffer between the residential neighborhoods along Route 63 and the mixed-use North Square Apartments at the Mill District development on Cowls Road, was removed after a demolition permit was issued by the town in January.
Associated Building Wreckers Inc. of Springfield requested the permit on behalf of W.D. Cowls, Inc. due to the failing and dangerous condition of the building.
Plans call for leaving both the concrete slab and stone foundations onsite.
Known as the Antiques Barn, because it was once used by Walter Cowls Jones to store Amherst and area antiquities and vintage vehicles, the Historical Commission in 2014 imposed a year-long demolition delay on the building following a request to raze the building from W.D. Cowls President Cinda Jones.
The home barn was originally built as part of a dairy farm and for the cows on the site. Into the 1990s, though, the barn was used only for storage. When the Historical Commission voted in favor of the delay, the barn was believed to date to as early as the late 1700s.
But the barn continued to deteriorate, with Jones citing significant costs needed to renovate the roof and no possibility for the building to be incorporated into the nearby development.
During the hearing, there was concern from neighbors about its removal, with some describing the possible “gaping hole” and losing a protection that shields homes from the North Square buildings.
Jones had suggested the barn could be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere, with the Emily Dickinson Museum or the Porter Phelps Huntington House possible destinations.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.