ABOUT THE MIDDLEBURY COMMNITY HOUSE

The original, brick structure of the Middlebury Community House was built between 1816 and 1817 on the corner of Main and Seymour Street by the Honorable Horatio Seymour, a native of Litchfield, Connecticut.

His house was, and continues today, to be quite elegant and enchanting in its exterior architecture and interior design. The house is one of the best in post-Colonial Federal Style architecture.

Set on top of a stone terrace and surrounded by a white wooden fence, the rectangular structure with four tall chimneys is simple yet elegant.

The brick walls are capped with marble. Crowning the house is a white wooden balustrade over the eaves. A gracefully curved white hood also shelters the doorway, the only Middlebury home with such a hood left in tact.

Both the exterior and interior of the house are embellished with many fine examples of free-hand woodworking for the eye to enjoy.

The house also boasts ten fireplaces with some of the most decorative mantles in all of Middlebury. The Seymour house continued to be the residence of the family from generation to generation, each making changes to the structure to meet their needs and tastes of the period.

In 1938, Jessica Stewart Swift and her brother, Philip Battell Stewart, gave their family home and its furnishings to the citizens of Middlebury to be used openly for the hosting of community events and functions. According to Jessica's instructions, there is to be a ten member Board of Trustees.

She specified that the National Bank of Middlebury President, a representative for the President of Middlebury College, President of the Woman's Club, Regent for the DAR, a Swift/Stewart family representative and five people at large from the community, would share the operation responsibilities.

The board members volunteer their services to the house. There are four employees: a house director, treasurer, housekeeper, and a maintenance assistant.

In the 1960s, Jessica had a Community Cottage built on Seymour Street in order to offer additional meeting space to town citizens.

The cottage is also under the care of the Board of Trustees. The years have been good to the house, but maintenance needs are showing up more regularly.

The Community House has benefited recently from a few "community based" gifts and grant awards to assist in beautifying this significant historic resource.