AMHERST — A century-old building that is part of the agricultural past at the University of Massachusetts campus, most recently used academically as studios for art students, will soon be razed.
Located at 283 Natural Resources Road, the Art Barn, set next to the textbook annex, physical plant and research greenhouses, was built in 1911 to serve the then Massachusetts Agricultural College.
For many years, until the Studio Arts Building opened in 2008, the two-story, wooden building was a warren of studios and one of 19 campus buildings for art students. Even then, it was described as a “decrepit building” that was also overheated, but the student artists there said it gave them independent space for creativity.
By 2014, the vacant building was being used to store manure and fertilizer.
The Amherst Historical Commission, which has no jurisdiction over demolitions on the campus, discussed the building at a recent meeting, with member Hetty Startup noting its gambrel roof.
“It will be a shame to see it go because everything around it is fairly high tech, boxy or greenhouses,” Startup said.
Startup added that it’s a remaining sign of the rural origins of the campus and a time when a largely agricultural society was being served.
Some of the buildings associated with the agricultural past have been renovated, such as the 1894 horse barn, formerly on Grinnell Way, that is now the centerpiece of the Agricultural Learning Center on North Pleasant Street, while others, like Hatch Laboratory, a late 19th century Colonial Revival wood-framed building built as part of the veterinary science program, have been demolished.