AMHERST — Amherst College recently completed demolition of two historic homes it owns, including the 14-room Arthur H. Dakin Estate, according to a spokesperson.
The larger of the two buildings, the Dakin property at 355 South Pleasant St., featuring a Georgian Colonial home with an attached garage, was largely screened from the road by trees and other vegetation. The college has owned the property since 2003.
Though the 70 Northampton Road home and garage were smaller buildings — known as either the Blair, Lewis and Florence House or the Obed F. Smith House — its removal was more visible to passersby on the state highway. That building, a Victorian Eclectic-style home, was located immediately across from Seligman House, an Amherst College dormitory originally built as a fraternity house.
Plans at both locations are for the cellar holes to be backfilled and the sites to be reseeded, with no imminent redevelopment.
“We are currently evaluating the best use of the land at the 70 Northampton Road and Dakin sites,” spokeswoman Caroline Hanna wrote in an email.
