It’s official!
The Thorne Building is located on Franklin Avenue and will soon be converted into a multi-purposecommunity center. Photo submitted

It’s official!

After more than 125 years, the Thorne Memorial Building no longer belongs to the Village of Millbrook. Following many years of pondering what should become of the historic building, numerous public hearings and countless informational sessions, the one-time public high school is now part of the Millbrook Community Partnership 501(C)3. It will soon be transformed into a community center for the both the village and town to enjoy. It is part of a joint project with the former Bennett College property, part of which is being transformed into a public park. 

Millbrook Mayor Tim Collopy described what it was like to formally sign the title of the building over to the nonprofit on Tuesday, Aug. 17, after so many years of waiting. 

“I am very excited that we have achieved this important milestone so that the Millbrook Community Partnership can begin converting the abandoned Thorne Memorial School Building into the Thorne Building Community Center.” 

The title was transferred quietly and privately, but many, the mayor predicted, will be happy to hear that the historic moment was finally reached.

— Judith O’Hara Balfe

Latest News

Joy Brown’s retrospective celebrates 50 years of women at Hotchkiss

Joy Brown installing work for her show at the Tremaine Art Gallery at Hotchkiss.

Natalia Zukerman

This year, The Hotchkiss School is marking 50 years of co-education with a series of special events, including an exhibition by renowned sculptor Joy Brown. “The Art of Joy Brown,” opening Saturday, Feb. 22, in the Tremaine Art Gallery, offers a rare retrospective of Brown’s work, spanning five decades from her early pottery to her large-scale bronze sculptures.

“It’s an honor to show my work in celebration of fifty years of women at Hotchkiss,” Brown shared. “This exhibition traces my journey—from my roots in pottery to the figures and murals that have evolved over time.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Special screening of ‘The Brutalist’ at the Triplex Cinema

A special screening of “The Brutalist” was held on Feb. 2 at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington. Elihu Rubin, a Henry Hart Rice Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies at Yale, led discussions both before and after the film.

“The Brutalist” stars Adrien Brody as fictional character, architect Laszlo Toth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect. Toth trained at the Bauhaus and was interred at the concentration camp Buchenwald during World War II. The film tells of his struggle as an immigrant to gain back his standing and respect as an architect. Brody was winner of the Best Actor Golden Globe, while Bradley Corbet, director of the film, won best director and the film took home the Golden Globe for Best Film Drama. They have been nominated again for Academy Awards.

Keep ReadingShow less
Winter inspiration for meadow, garden and woods

Breece Meadow

Jeb Breece

Chances are you know or have heard of Jeb Breece.He is one of a handful of the Northwest Corner’s “new guard”—young, talented and interesting people with can-do spirit — whose creative output makes life here even nicer than it already is.

Breece’s outward low-key nature belies his achievements which would appear ambitious even for a person without a full-time job and a family.The third season of his “Bad Grass” speaker series is designed with the dual purpose of reviving us from winter doldrums and illuminating us on a topic of contemporary gardening — by which I mean gardening that does not sacrifice the environment for the sake of beauty nor vice versa. There are two upcoming talks taking place at the White Hart:Feb. 20 featuring Richard Hayden from New York City’s High Line and March 6 where Christopher Koppel will riff on nativars. You won’t want to miss either.

Keep ReadingShow less