A Short History of Cassilis
COURTESY OF CONSTRUCT , INC .
A Short History of Cassilis
Around 1890 , Dr . and Mrs . Everett M . Culver of Long Island built a Dutch Colonial home on 20-plus acres . In 1910 , they sold the property to Mr . and Mrs . J . Macy Willets . ( Mr . Willets ’ father built Gedney Farm ; Mrs . Willets ’ father built Mepal Manor and had a penchant for Hackney ponies .) The Willets named it Cassilis Farm , breeding prize-winning Hackney ponies and cocker spaniels .
Cassilis was passed to Willets ’ granddaughter Macy Pell Hill in 1971 and was sold in 1976 to famed Lithuanian-born artist George Maciunas , founder of the movement known as Fluxus . He died in 1978 , before realizing his dream of an artist cooperative at Cassilis . John and Yoko Ono , whose work was promoted by Maciunas , visited Cassilis in 1977 .
Abandoned for several years , the property was purchased in the 1980s by Jane Carpenter , who used Cassilis to house and educate individuals with disabilities . She passed away in 2017 , and her family sold it in 2020 to David Baum , director of Dewey Academy , who was looking for a new home for his specialized high school at Searles Castle in Great Barrington . That never was realized , and the property went back on the market in 2021 for $ 1.8 million . Construct ’ s bid of $ 1.2 million went unaccepted ; they purchased it with the New Marlborough Housing Development Committee for $ 625,000 at public auction in 2022 . ■
— Laura Mars
GAVIN PREUSS ( 3 )
completed Windrush Commons — 49 affordable apartments on the south side of Great Barrington — and purchased Thornewood Inn on the town ’ s north end to create 18 Workforce Housing units . And Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust Fund member Bill Cook proposed a tiny homes development , based on what he saw in Martha ’ s Vineyard . Small ( averaging 750 square feet ) but affordable ($ 225,000 ) tiny homes are not for everyone , but a piece of the puzzle .
Eagle Mill Redevelopment is creating 128 units of mixed-income housing on the site of Eagle Mill in Lee , one of 25 paper mills that once operated in the town . It was built in 1808 , saw eight additions over the years , and closed in 2008 . The multi-phased , $ 80 million project includes replacing , renovating , and building new , for a variety of housing and recreational opportunities .
In addition to physically digging in to create much-needed living space , the solution to the housing crisis includes raising community awareness . How did we get here , and how do we create permanent solutions ? To that end , 1Berkshire — the
county ’ s official regional economic organization and regional tourism council — put together a 24-member Berkshire Housing Practitioners Working Group that compiled a 36-page Housing Vision for the Berkshires document . They identified several strategies , including education , creating a supportive environment , advocating , and securing financial resources .
“ The idea behind the report ,” says 1Berkshire Executive Director Jonathan Butler , “ is to understand that different organizations have different missions , but at the end of the day , we all impact each other . A lot has been done to create a common level of understanding , to understand what barriers housing developers are facing , for example .”
Butler is also quick to point out that the governor ’ s AHA tackles several issues identified in the report — like permitting , state funding , and market-rate development . All are pieces of the puzzle .
Peter Taylor is executive director of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation , a public charity whose goal is to improve the region by encouraging philanthropy , pooling and investing
Touring inside Cassilis Farm with designers Danielle Sweet , Christine Lebowitz , and Rachel Duchesne , and a view from afar .
GREGORY CHERIN
100 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE May / June 2024