The Hiram Woodward House and Studio

In the week before Christmas, December 1922, Robert Strong Woodward's first studio, Redgate, caught fire and burned to the ground from an overheated wood stove, destroying his paintings, painting supplies as well as furniture and personal possessions. He had been living in a small cottage less than a mile away, on the property of Hiram Woodward, a distant cousin. Shortly after the fire, in May 1923, he purchased the Hiram Woodward farm from Frederick and Leona Burnham. With the help of his hired man, Fabian Stone, he began to renovate the old house, making part of it into a new studio.

Using this as a base of operations, he traveled about town making paintings and chalk drawings of local farms and pastures. In the early days he traveled by horse and buggy, or in the winter, by sleigh. There were two horses that he owned while at Redgate and the Hiram Woodward studios, Tsune and Thomas à Kempis. He was able to hitch up his horse and buggy by himself, but frequently allowed Fabian to do it for him. It is known that he would travel daily as far as Heath alone to paint. This was about 10 miles away on the other side of the Deerfield River and would take over an hour to travel.

It is while he was at the Hiram Woodward Studio that he first owned a motor car, a Nash. With the help of Fabian and the nurse, Miss Cowles, he was able to travel more easily. This made it possible to expand his area for painting and for visiting galleries which would display his works. A second Nash replaced the first in 1929. In July 1930 he even spent several weeks in Boston making paintings and chalk drawings. Art critics lauded the maturation of his style as it evolved, and museums continued to acquire his work.

On days when the weather was less favorable for outdoor travel, he continued painting inside his studio. He made a number of still life paintings at the Hiram Woodward Studio of fruit and bottles set up in front of a printed cloth backdrop. But here he began to go beyond the simple still lifes to include landscapes. While he had painted through the window at the Redgate Studio, he never included the window itself in the painting. Now he went one step further to set up a still life in front of a window. He included plants, glass bottles, figurines, and fruit in the foreground, muntins and lites (wood glazing bars and glass panes) mid-ground, and the landscape outside beyond the window as the background. These "window paintings" from inside the studio became extremely popular in later years. Sales from his paintings earned him enough income to support a hired man, and a nurse/housekeeper, and his necessary living expenses.

Robert Strong Woodward spent much of his energy and resources on renovations to the properties he owned. Some renovations were necessary to enable him better access between rooms and buildings in his wheelchair. Other renovations were made to create the old New England rustic ambiance that he loved. Old weathered barn-boards including their hand wrought nails were collected from dilapidated old buildings and barns that had fallen down in the local towns. These boards were used to cover the walls of many of the rooms. Hand wrought hinges and latches were used everywhere.

All the window glass was the old hand-blown small panes of glass. Unlike modern plate glass, these windowpanes included ripples, bubbles and waves in the glass. While plate glass was available by the mid 19th century, Robert Strong Woodward preferred crown glass. The panes were made by hot molten glass blown and spun rapidly to make a large glass disk and then cut into glass panes. Modern electricity was installed, but all the wiring and electrical outlets were located in areas hidden from view. Even though electric lights were available, much of lighting was done by candles, Chinese lanterns, and oil lamps.

Much of the furniture and furnishings were antiques. A single piece of mahogany was used to make a large dining table with a center panel and drop leaves. On the wall hung a mirror that was at least 150 years old and on the floors were handmade braided rugs. There was a large stone fireplace with a long, flat, stone mantle adorned with antiques and candles. The stones had been meticulously arranged by Mr. Woodward, and likely built into a fireplace by Fabian. Known for his stone work, Fabian frequently collected stones on his outings with RSW. These were brought back to the Hiram Woodward place and used to make ramps or stone steps at entrances to buildings. Grass always grew between the flat stones, as concrete was unacceptable. Eventually all the wooden and concrete steps were removed and replaced with stones.

On the east side of the studio, a large porch was covered with grapevines and a high raftered roof. One third of the porch was open to the sky and here were placed an old round colonial table and chairs. It was an ideal place to have tea in the afternoon and watch the moon rise later in the evening. Nearby, at the point where two small brooks converged and under the shade of large trees, Fabian had built an outdoor stone fireplace surrounded by flat stone tables and benches. This area was frequently used for outdoor entertaining, a summer highlight for Mr. Woodward. Guests could swim in a nearby pond with a rustic old cider mill (The Little Shop) in the background.


Robert Strong Woodward created a beautiful rustic New England house at the Hiram Woodward place. His renovations produced a comfortable home and working studio which minimized the effects of his disability and allowed his creativity to bring forth a large number of paintings and chalk drawings. Below are just a few examples. Click on each for details.

Then on July 3rd, 1934, his home and studio at the Hiram Woodward place met with a disastrous fire started by a bolt of lightning. This lightning strike allegedly caused sparks and fire to come out of every lighting fixture in the house, thus causing the entire building to ignite almost at once. The lightning also took out local telephone service, so the local fire department could not be notified until Robert Haeberle, a neighbor and relative, drove to Shelburne Falls to get help. Much of Robert Strong Woodward's furniture, furnishings and supplies were destroyed in the inferno. However, fortunately, all of RSW's finished paintings were removed from the burning studio by neighbors. Also saved was the red lantern that appeared in a number of paintings including From My Studio Window, My Winter Shelf, Studio Window, Under The Summer Window, and The Window, among others. The red lantern was brought to the Southwick Studio where it still remains today. Only the barn that was not connected to the house was untouched.

Robert Strong Woodward was able to almost immediately move himself and his hired assistants into the nearby home of a friend, Elinor Buell, on Ashfield Street (now Bray Road) in Buckland. This was the former home of the artist Edwin Romanzo Elmer. A few years earlier in 1931, Robert Strong Woodward had purchased a small building a short distance away which he called "The Little Shop." While the loss due to the fire was devastating, he still had both a place to live at the Buells and a studio at the Little Shop in which to paint.


Immediately after the fire, Robert Strong Woodward began the process of cleaning up the debris. He also began to work on finding a new home and studio, and within two months, he had purchased the Southwick place in Buckland Center. Fabian removed all the flat stones which he had collected over the previous decade, and brought them to this new property to create walkways in the lawns, entrance ramps and steps. Finally the soil was leveled and grass was planted to create an open field. Before the end of the summer the area was clean and neat. The property was later sold and the barn that survived the fire was renovated and became a home. No one would ever know what had happened.

Robert Strong Woodward himself wrote in longhand an article documenting his memories of the Hiram Woodward home and studio a few weeks after the fire. The description was almost poetic and provides further detail as well as insight and appreciation into the love that RSW felt for his beloved home and studio.

JGN
2007

LMP
2013