Current Archives Exhibits include:
Horses to Courses: The Property Before Gordon - located outside of Jenks 217
Biblia Polyglotta - located in the Reference Room of Jenks Library
20 Years of Clarendon Scholars - located in the Reference Room on the wall headed towards Bistro 255
Biblia Polyglotta
Curated by Damon DiMauro
The word “polyglot” derives from Koine Greek πολύγλωττος and late Latin “polyglottus.” It refers to a manuscript or imprint (especially a Bible) displaying text translated into several languages. Polyglot editions of the Scriptures have existed throughout Church History, beginning about 240 CE with Origen’s Hexapla. However, with the advent of the Gutenberg Revolution in printing, the great polyglot era was spurred both by Renaissance humanists, who sought to establish the most accurate biblical text possible based on the original languages, and Protestant Reformers, who wished to spread the Gospel and unite Christendom through the Word of God. For the early-modern reader, these large, folio-sized editions facilitated the task of identifying translation differences and weighing their attendant theological implications. The polyglot Bible thus issued from the struggle to faithfully interpret religious texts—by comparing them side-by-side in various tongues—with a view to restoring readings that had previously been corrupted or obscured. It is through this process that the polyglots of the 16th century and beyond contributed to the standardization of the biblical text.
The first known polyglot imprint of any part of the Bible belongs to Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), whose 1492 woodcut depicts St. Jerome in his study, pausing from his translation of the Vulgate to perform an act of charity (removing a thorn from a lion’s paw). This xylographic image presents the first verse of Genesis in the three holy languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
The great early-modern polyglots were the result of prodigious scholarly and technical effort, for many obstacles had to be overcome to produce them. On the one hand, they necessitated the combined skill of biblical exegetes, theologians, linguists, translators, and editors to establish accurate texts. On the other, they enlisted the concerted knowhow of type founders, engravers, and printers to present these texts in a polished, yet attractive manner. For this reason, polyglots have been called “the printing equivalent of cathedrals.”
Image: Dürer, Frontispiece, Epistolare beati Hieronomi (Basel: Kessler, 1492)
The Complutensian Polyglot is the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible and a monument of Renaissance typography and Spanish Humanism. The multilingual edition was the initiative of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517), who, at substantial personal expense, brought together the leading European scholars of the day to Complutense University, near Madrid, in order “to revive the languishing study of the Sacred Scriptures.”
Work on the endeavor began in 1502 and extended for some fifteen years. To reconcile variations in the Latin Vulgate, the team of scholars turned ad fontes (i.e. to the original sources), and Greek and Hebrew manuscripts were purchased by Cisneros especially for the project. The New Testament went to press in 1514—which antedates Erasmus’ “first” Greek New Testament (1516) by two years—though its publication was deferred while work on the Old Testament was completed, so that they might be published in tandem. Distribution of the Complutensian Polyglot was delayed further still until Pope Leo X authorized its publication in 1520.
The Old Testament was published in three parallel columns, Hebrew on the outside, Jerome’s Latin Vulgate in the middle, and the Greek Septuagint on the inside—a typographical configuration that was based, according to Cisneros, on Christ’s crucifixion between two thieves and that was meant to symbolize the Roman Church’s preeminence over the Greek Church and the Synagogue. The Aramaic text of the Targum Onkelos (for the Pentateuch) and Cisneros’ own Latin translation were added at the bottom.
Of the 600 printed multi-volume sets of the Complutensian Polyglot, only 123 copies are believed to still exist. Gordon College possesses the first printed volume, the New Testament, consisting of parallel columns of Greek and Jerome’s Vulgate. The Greek type was modeled on a 10th century manuscript and has been cited as “the finest Greek font ever cut.”
Image: Example pages of the Complutensian Polyglot opened to the incipit of John (Vining BS 1 1514w vol. 5)
Image: Portrait of Cardinal Cisneros
Image: Title page with Cisneros' Coat of Arms, and Cross Surmounted by a Cardinal's Hat
Edited by Bishop Agostino Giustiniani and printed in Genoa in 1516, the Octaplum or Quadruplex Psalter was the first polyglot of the Psalms ever published. The versions are laid out in eight parallel columns—four per page—beginning with the Hebrew text, followed by a Latin paraphrase of the Hebrew, the Latin Vulgate, the Septuagint Greek, Arabic, Aramaic (called “Chaldean”), a Latin paraphrase of the Aramaic, and rounded off with the editor’s notes, known as the scholia. Elegantly printed in red and black with fonts especially designed and cut for this edition, the polyglot psalter is a typographical and scholarly achievement of the first order. The Arabic is also the first specimen in Western printing of Arabic moveable type.
Of particular interest is a marginal note to Psalm 19:4 (“Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world”) which attributes to Christopher Columbus the prophetic fulfilment of this verse. The scholia extend for two pages, offering a biographical sketch of the Genoese native son, and constitute the first printed history of his expeditions to the New World. Shortly after the Psalter’s publication, Columbus’ son, Ferdinand, Duke of Veragua, filed a grievance with the Genoese Senate because of what he considered to be unflattering details about his father, namely his humble origins. The Senate eventually ordered the Psalter destroyed.
The Psalter was personally financed by Bishop Giustiniani, who had dedicated himself to the study of biblical languages and who had crossed paths with Erasmus and Thomas More during his European peregrinations. Giustiniani also began the preparation of a polyglot New Testament, but his Psalter did not sell well and he had to abandon the additional project due to insufficient finances. Nevertheless, his scholarship was widely acknowledged at the time, and François I invited him to Paris to occupy the chair of Hebrew and Arabic at the University of Paris (1517-22).
Image: Pages from the Genoa Psalter showing Psalm 19:4, indicated with a green arrow, in which Christopher Columbus was seen as the prophetic fulfillment of this verse. (Vining BS 1419 .A2 1516)
Image: Title Page of the Genoa Psalter in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and Aramaic
Image: Portrait of a Man, said to be Columbus (c. 1446-1506)
Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (1455-1536), often Latinized as Jacobus Faber Stapulensis, was a French theologian whose scholarship revived biblical studies and anticipated later developments in the Protestant Reformation. Along with Guillaume Briçonnet, Guillaume Farel, and Queen Marguerite de Navarre, he was a member of the “Circle of Meaux,” whose nascent evangelicalism sought a return to the study of the Bible as the primary source of Christian doctrine.
In 1509, printer Henri Estienne published Lefèvre’s Quintuplex Psalterium: Gallicum, Romanum, Hebraicum, Vetus, Conciliatum, or fivefold Latin Psalter in parallel columns—three versions derived from Jerome (namely, the text used by churches in Gaul, the text used by Roman churches, and the text established directly from the Hebrew), followed by two other versions (a text older than Jerome as well as a harmonizing text corrected by Lefèvre himself). In 1515, Lefèvre issued a new edition, which is the one featured here in the exhibit.
Recognizing the importance of the vernacular for reaching the faithful, Lefèvre was the first to translate the Bible into French in 1530. Although some of his works were condemned as heretical, and he found himself briefly exiled, it was his good fortune to have powerful protectors in King François I and his sister Queen Marguerite de Navarre. And while Lefèvre was an ardent supporter of ecclesiastical reform, he remained a Catholic till the end. Calvin is said to have visited him during his flight from France in 1533.
Image: Example pages showing Psalm 83, or Psalm 82 in the Catholic tradition. (Vining BS 1425 .L2 1515)
Image: Portrait of Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (1455-1536), also known as Faber Stapulensis, a French theologian whose scholarship revived biblical studies and anticipated later developments in the Protestant Reformation.
Image: Title page from the Gordon edition of Quintuplex Psalmterium
Christopher Plantin (c. 1520–1589) was a humanist book printer and publisher based primarily in Antwerp. As a youth in Caen, Normandy, he learned the trade of bookbinding. In 1545, he opened a shop in Paris, but after three years he removed to the thriving commercial center of Antwerp, where he became a citizen. The excellence of his work as a bookbinder brought him widespread attention. However, while delivering a prestigious commission, he was mistaken for another and assaulted, leaving him with an arm injury that put an end to his bookbinding career. This setback drove him to focus instead on typography and printing, in which he also excelled, achieving fame throughout Europe and earning himself the title “Prince of Printers.”
Plantin was responsible for printing a wide range of works, from Cicero to hymnals, including more than forty editions of emblem books. However, the Plantin Polyglot, also dubbed the Antwerp Polyglot or the Biblia Regia (because King Philip II of Spain was its patron), printed between 1568 and 1573, was his masterpiece and remains his most enduring legacy. Publishing the polyglot required over a dozen presses with as many as sixty workers to operate them, not to mention a cadre of linguistic scholars to serve as proofreaders. The polyglot proved very costly to produce, requiring Plantin to mortgage his business to pay for its printing, with the hope that he would one day turn a profit. Although considered a “Counter Reformation” endeavor, the Inquisition scrutinized the polyglot and did not permit it to be sold until 1580. In the end, the work brought Plantin little profit, although King Philip did grant him the privilege of printing all Roman Catholic liturgical books (missals, breviaries, etc.) as his royal printer with the title of the “King’s Official Printer”.
The first four volumes are dedicated to the Old Testament—in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, each with its own Latin translation. The fifth volume consists of the New Testament, in Greek and Syriac, again with a Latin translation for both. The sixth volume contains the complete Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek, as well as an interlinear version that offers a Latin translation printed between the lines. The final two volumes are comprised of dictionaries, grammars, list of names, etc. In short, the critical apparatus provides the full panoply of tools for the study of the Scriptures.
Image: Example pages opened to the incipit of Second John. (Vining BS 1 1572 vol. 5)
Image: Posthumous portrait of Plantin by Rubens. Plantin holds here a compass, the center point of which symbolizes “constancy” and the moving point “labor”—an allusion to his motto: Labore et Constantia.
Elias Hutter (1553-c.1605) was a renowned Hebraist, born in Görlitz, a small town in proximity to Germany’s present border with the Czech Republic and Poland. He studied Oriental languages at the Lutheran University in Jena. At the precocious age of 24, Hutter was named professor of Hebrew at Leipzig. A pedagogical reformer before his time, he eventually founded an institution in Nuremberg where students could be trained in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German in four years.
Hutter is chiefly known today for his Polyglot Bible, published in Nuremberg in 1599. The New Testament volume contained the complete text of the Gospels in twelve languages: Syriac, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, Bohemian (i.e. Czech), Italian, Spanish, Gallic (i.e. French), English, Danish, and Polish. Hutter himself translated the Greek original into Hebrew, an undertaking which he accomplished in just one year. As 19th-century Hebrew scholar Franz Delitzsch noted: “His Hebrew translation reveals a grasp of the language rare among Christians and it is still worth consulting, for in instance after instance he has been most fortunate in striking on precisely the right expression.”
The Old Testament volume, carried only to the Book of Ruth, consists of six languages: Hebrew, Chaldean (i.e. Aramaic), Greek, Latin, Italian, and German. With respect to the Hebrew text, since identifying the “root” was known to be a main challenge in mastering the language—for prefixes and suffixes can make it hard to recognize the three principal letters—Hutter developed an ingenious typeface to assist his readers. He printed the root of each word in solid letters and the prefixes and suffixes in hollow letters. These “outlined” letters would have been very costly to produce, since a typeface of this sort would have had to be custom-made, the first of its kind.
Image: Example pages of the Nuremberg Polyglot opened to Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (Vining BS 1 1599w)
Image: Title page from the Nuremberg Polyglot
Image: The highlighted portions of the illustrations show the typeface used in Hutter’s Hebrew Bible in Deut. 6:4-5. The root is in bold type, and the prefixes and suffixes are in open type.
Image: Hutter's New Testament (1602), which included the first translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, open to the incipit of Acts. (Vining BS 1901 1602w)
Brian Walton (1600-61) was an Anglican divine and scholar. He was born at Seymour, in the district of Cleveland, Yorkshire. He began his studies in Cambridge in 1616, took his Bachelor’s degree in 1619 and Master of Arts in 1623. Through the course of his career, he held a school mastership, two curacies, and two rectorships. He took a leading part in the civic contests of the day. In his retirement, Walton devoted himself to Oriental studies and realized his masterwork, a Polyglot Bible which would be more comprehensive, more affordable, and equipped with a better critical apparatus than any earlier undertaking of its kind. Walton’s dissident political opinions did not prevent Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell from taking an interest in the endeavor, and the paper used in the project was freed from duty. The Restoration brought to Walton his consecration as Bishop of Chester in 1660. He died in autumn the following year. He was interred in Old St Paul’s Cathedral in London, though the monument was lost in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Walton’s work is considered the last and most accurate of the great polyglots. It was also one of the first English books supported by subscription (£10), and nine hundred orders were placed during the initial two months. Walton was assisted in his efforts by consummate scholars and he was able to avail himself of new manuscript material. The type characters for the nine languages printed (Hebrew, Chaldee [i.e. Aramaic], Samaritan Targum, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Ethiopic, Greek, and Latin) were all of English production. The Polyglot eventually appeared in six great folios between 1654 and 1657. It was the crowning typographical achievement of the era.
Polyglot Bibles were intended for a scholarly audience and rarely featured illustrations. However, the London Polyglot is adorned by several full-page engravings by the noted Bohemian artist Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–77).
Image: Example pages from the third volume of the London polyglot. It is opened to Isaiah 53 and contains Hebrew, Chaldee [i.e. Aramaic], Samaritan Targum, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. (Vining BS 1 1654 v.3)
Image: Engraving of Walton by Wenceslaus Hollar (1654)
Image: Frontispiece by Wenceslaus Hollar (1657)
20 Years of Clarendon Scholars
A Collaboration by the Gordon College Archives & Clarendon Scholars Program
Silvio Vazquez, the Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing in 2006, compared the New City Scholars "to that "unconventional gathering of earnest souls" who made up the first class of Gordon College in 1889." (From the Board of Trustee minutes, April 2006)
Image: Photo of mural (created by Vinnycius Alves '25) and exhibit panels located in the Reference Room of Jenks Library.
In 2003, the New City Scholars program was launched in collaboration with the Emmanuel Gospel Center’s Boston Education Collaborative with Nick Rowe serving as the first program director. The program was compared “to that “unconventional gathering of earnest souls” that made up the first class of Gordon College in 1889 by Silvio Vazquez, the then Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing.
During the early years of the program, the New City Scholars solely accepted students from the greater Boston area and the first cohort graduated from Gordon in 2007. The 2007-2008 school year saw the collaboration of the program with CASASTART in Lynn where the cohorts mentored at risk youth and they also became involved with the tutoring and other after school programs at Lynn’s Boys and Girls Club.
Image: Photo of first cohort of New City Scholars with Audrey Todd from 2005 edition of the Stillpoint.
Dr. Nicholas Rowe was the Director of the New City Scholars Program from 2003-2004.
Image: Headshot of Nick Rowe
Audrey Todd was Director of the New City Scholars Program from 2004-2005.
Image: Headshot of Audrey Todd from a 2005 edition of the Stillpoint.
Sheena Graham was Director of the New City Scholars Program from 2006-2009.
Image: Headshot of Sheena Graham
Gordon College and the Emmanuel Gospel Center’s partnership came to an end in 2008, and the New City Scholars became the Clarendon Scholars. The name change was to honor “Gordon’s urban beginnings and the multi-ethnic community of A.J. Gordon’s missionary training institute at Clarendon Street Church.”
In addition to the name change, the program began accepting students from all across New England and New York. The program also saw leadership from directors Sheena Graham, Shella Saintcyr, and Scott Hwang during this time.
Image: Photo of New City Scholars outside the A.J. Gordon Memorial Chapel
Shella Saintcyr was Director of the Clarendon Scholars from 2009-2011.
Image: Headshot of Shella Saintcyr
Scott Hwang was Director of the Clarendon Scholars from 2011-2013.
Image: Headshot of Scott Hwang.
Annery Miranda ('09)
Attorney/Lawyer
Miranda is currenlty a staff attorney with the Justice for Immigrant Families (JFF) Program at PAIR (Political Asylum/Immigration Representation) where she specializes in representating immigrant children and families in Massachusetts. After graduating from Gordon, she obtained her M.S.W. from Boston College, where she focused on understanding trauma, its manifistations, and treatment, and her J.D. from Northeastern School of Law. After law school she worked as a Paralegal at Greater Boston Legal Services advocating for low wage workers in unemployment proceedings.
Image: Headshot of Annery Miranda
Dr. Craig Ramsey, Jr. ('13)
Music Teacher & Choir Director
Since graduating from Gordon, Ramsey completed graduate school with a degree in Education at Gordon College as well as finished his Doctorate in Education from Liberty University. He continues to serve the Boston Public Schools as an Elementary Music Teacher, as well as the Boston Public Schools male Educators of Color and the BPS Mentoring organizations. He is proud to be the advisor for God's Chosen Gospel Choir as they enter their twelfth year. Ramsey and his wife, Trisha, have celebrated seven years of marriage.
Image: Headshot of Craig Ramsey, Jr.
The first four of the 5 Pillars of the Clarendon Scholars Program were created by Paulea Mooney-McCoy in 2014. The fifth pillar was added by Dr. Charlene Mutamba in 2016.
The 5 Pillars are Personal growth (academic, spiritual, and social), Reconciliation and cultural fluency, Community engagement, Leadership development/Urban leadership, and Professional and career development.
In 2020, the Program’s guiding principles of Ubuntu, a Zulu phrase meaning "I am because you are," and Sankofa, a Ghanian philosophy meaning "Go back and get it," were instituted by Yicaury Melo.
Image: Clarendon Scholars at the 2015 End of Year Banquet
Paulea Mooney-McCoy was Director of the Clarendon Scholars Program from 2014-2017.
Image: Photo of Paulea speaking at the 2015 End of Year Banquet
Charlene Mutamba was the Director of the Clarendon Scholars Program from 2017-2019.
Image: Charlene speaking at a 2018 Reception
Yicaury Melo has been the Director of the Clarendon Scholars Program since 2020. She is an alumna of the program and was part of the __ cohort.
Image: Headshot of Yicaury Melo
David Popa ('15)
Artist
Popa moved to Finland after graduating from Gordon and began creating his current body of work using all natural pigments like charcoal, chalk, and ground shells mixed with the water to create ephemeral earth frescoes. He works primarily in remote locations in Finland, Norway, Greece, France, and the USA. Since his works are situated in nature, they are dependent on weather conditions and are short lived.
Most recently, he partnered with Apple TV+ for the second season of their show “Prehistoric Planet.” He created the images of a Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Hatzegopteryx in three different countries in a span of two weeks. You can learn more about Popa at his website (davidpopaart.com) or on his Instagram (@david_popa_art).
Image: David Popa holds a print of his artwork.
Today, the Clarendon Scholars Program falls under the Global Honors Institute which formally launched in early 2017 and was cemented as the “umbrella” for honors programs and scholars’ programs at Gordon in 2018. With this change, the Clarendon Scholars program made the shift from cohorts of 10 to cohorts of 12 and began accepting students into the program from across the nation.
Image: Photo of the Clarendon Scholars at a retreat in 2019.
In 2018, Bellamy received the Shared Justice Student-Faculty Research Prize from the Center for Public Justice. Paul Brink served as her faculty advisor.
Their project centered on the Section 8 affordable housing program in Lynn, MA.
Image: (L-R) Dr. Paul Brink & Jordan Bellamy ('20) in 2018.
Vi Khuc ('23)
Graphic Designer
Since graduation, Khuc has worked as a Junior Designer at Cambridge Public Schools where she collaborates across departments, with community partners and organizations, to plan, develop, and design exciting communication campaigns. Recently, her team earned national recognition from the National School Public Relations Association for their outstanding work in Communications, Design, Branding, and Marketing. Beyond her career, she explores textiles and creates art, delves into martial arts for personal growth, and helps out her family at church. Khuc also recently got a dog named Daisy who she loves spending time with!
Image: Headshot of Vi Khuc
The Clarendon Scholars have left an indelible mark on the culture of Gordon College for the past two decades. Their leadership in various student initiatives, such as the Kinesiology Club, AFRO Hamwe, Social Justice Initiative, La Raza, Skate Club, Swing Club, ASIA, One Body worship band, and the Gospel Choir, has been remarkable. The Clarendon Scholars have held numerous prestigious positions, such as GCSA Presidents, Presidential Fellows, Community Engagement Ambassadors, Senior Residence Life staff, Pike Scholars, and Colligient of the Year. After leaving campus, they have continued to utilize their skills and talents to make positive impacts in their communities, serving as principals, teachers, entrepreneurs, researchers, policymakers, social workers, engineers, lawyers, psychologists, diplomats, and ministers. They are committed to seeking the peace of the city...for if it prospers, they too will prosper (Jeremiah 29:7 NIV)
Image: The Clarendon Scholars at the End of Year Banquet in 2022.
Horses to Courses
The Property Before Gordon
Curated by Bradley Bink (Archives Intern - Spring 2023)
Frederick H. Prince was a millionaire during the 19th and 20th centuries, making money in banking, railroads, and meatpacking. He was the youngest son of Fredrick O. Prince, a politician, lawyer, and mayor of Boston. Frederick H. Prince attended Harvard for 2 years before dropping out to get a headstart in working in business. A majority of his fortune was acquired through his railway business. He started by purchasing smaller railway companies and combining them to create a larger company called the Union Stockyards and Transit Company. He continued to acquire more companies and increase the size of his holdings in stockyards and railways. During this time, he acquired many lavish estates in France and the United States, including the Princemere Estate Wenham.
Image: Frederick H. Prince (1950)
The Prince family was made up of Frederick “henceforth Mr. Prince” Abigail “Abby,” their two biological sons, Frederick “Freddie” Jr. and Norman, and a distant cousin, William Wood, who was adopted later in life. Abigail was a notorious germaphobe and had a distaste for flowers. She would have cloth soaked in antiseptic hung from the walls, ceilings, and furniture in any room she entered. She would not allow any flowers on the Princemere property and would hire children to pick the dandelions that grew there.
Image: Abigail Prince (1911)
Norman helped create the Lafayette Escadrille, a volunteer force of the French Air Force primarily made up of Americans, in 1916. Norman would go on to die while fighting in World War I in 1916.
Freddie also fought for the Lafayette Escadrille and, after the death of Norman, Freddie was forced by his father to leave the Escadrille. This was one of the many disagreements between Frederick Jr. and his father. These disagreements would eventually lead to Frederick Jr. being disowned by his family. Without an heir to the family business, Frederick would adopt William, who would inherit most of the family fortune ($100,000,000), while Frederick Jr. would get significantly less ($100,000).
Image: Norman Prince (left), Frederick H. Prince, Jr. (center), Frederick H. Prince (right)
Image: Gordon Dennis' book, Lafayette Escadrille: Pilot Biographies, published in 1991. The photograph in the top-left corner shows Norman (left), Freddie (center), and Mr. Prince (right) at Princemere (1905).
Image: Gordon Dennis' book, Lafayette Escadrille: Pilot Biographies, published in 1991. The bottom-right corner of the left page shows Freddie talking to his instructor at Pau, France (1916). The right page shows Freddie with the plane he flew during World War I.
Image: Cover of the book, Norman Prince: A Volunteer Who Died for the Cause He Loved, published in 1917. This book was financed and edited my Mr. Prince. He had objected to his sons' association with aviation in real-life, but champions them within the book. The book is filled with praise for Norman, but does not speak of all Mr. Prince did to try to stop them from pursuing this goal.
In 1884 Mr. Prince purchased the estate to house the Myopia Club that he, his three brothers, and some friends had formed in 1870 as the Winchester Country Club. The club was later humorously named Myopia, the condition that causes nearsightedness because 5 of the 9 original founders were nearsighted. Initially created for baseball, the club shifted to horses, polo, and hunting; the club moved to the Hamilton area, providing more space for these activities. In the years after 1884, Prince expanded the land by purchasing 215 more parcels of land in the surrounding area. Soon this property covered over 1,000 acres of woodland, pine grove, lakes, and marshes across Wenham, Beverly, Hamilton, Essex, and Manchester. In 1884 Frederick married Abigail Kinglsey Norman.
After their marriage, Frederick and Abigail began spending more time on this property than others. They had a cottage constructed that was painted to resemble stone. Abby liked this look so much that she wanted a mansion that resembled a castle she had seen in Ireland. The building would be built to Abby’s specifications and was furnished by her. This building at the time was known as Prince Mansion but is known today as Frost Hall. The estate was covered in an assortment of other buildings to house guests, horses, dogs, and workers. Living quarters were built for the groundskeeper, chauffeur, and blacksmith. Two barns were built; one was built along Grapevine Road and featured stables, an indoor riding ring, and living quarters. The other barn was built specifically for the horses owned by Teddy Roosevelt, who visited the estate. Across the entire estate, the stables housed almost 100 horses, and kennels for almost 100 hunting dogs were built. A 3-car garage housed the cars of the Prince family. Finally, a cider mill was also housed on the property. On the property's northern end, a hotel called Villa Veranda was built for those traveling to or from Manchester. There were also several other cottages built on the property.
Image: A drawing of Princemere Estate (1955) as Gordon College was making its move to Wenham and planning on how to use the property and buildings on the estate.
Image: The Old Cider Mill (1948) as used by the Prince family as a meeting place for the Myopia Club and as extra stalls for horses. Today, the Road Halls called "The Village" now take its place.
Image: This photo was taken from the upper polo field, known as the Quad today, looking towards Prince Mansion and Coy Pond (1952).
Image: The Lower Polo Field (1955) would have been located behind where The Village stands today. Today this area is wetlands.
Image: The Upper Polo Field (1950) was used by the Prince Family and their guests, including Theodore Roosevelet, European royalty, and high-ranking military personnel.
Image: The Stables and Garage (1948) had a 3-car garage, 18 horse stalls, and indoor riding ring, and living quarters for the caretaker of the building.
Image: Villa Veranda (1960) was used as a hotel for those traveling to and from Manchester for many years, but was also used by the Prince family as a guest house, and by Gordon College, for a short time, as married couples housing.
The construction of Frost Hall, formerly Prince Mansion, likely started in the 1880s by the Watson Company. The original cottage was integrated into the building and would become the dining room. The house had the first heated swimming pool in America, but there is debate about whether it was used as a pool or a fountain. Above the pool was a skylight that extended three stories up and provided light to all the floors. Some visitors said that fish had been kept within the pool. Most of the rooms had fireplaces, many can still be found today, while others have been covered. The building featured several sets of secret staircases within the walls so servants could move between floors without being spotted. A several-inch thick glass floor had been placed above the kitchen so the head chef could keep an eye on the cooks below.
Granite from Gloucester was brought by train, horse, and wagon for the house. Marble for the floors, windows, wrought ironworks, and tapestries were shipped from France. Gilded furniture, oriental rugs, tapestries imported from Spain, and portraits of the family painted by Sir Alfred Munnings filled the rooms. The four large pillars in the lobby are made of marble that came in the same shipment as the marble used in the Boston Public Library.
Stained glass windows from a French church built in the 10th century were used in Bethel Chapel, but were moved to the A. J. Gordon Chapel in the 1990s. The construction of Prince Mansion went on for a long time as new additions were added, but construction finally ended in 1911 after a stone mason fell to his death while working on the building.
Today the building looks very different, and the many renovations have changed the layout significantly. You can still see the layout of the previous owners if you walk through Frost Hall and keep your eyes open.
Image: Prince Mansion (1947)
Image: Original marble from the main room of Prince Mansion.
Image: Key to reading the abbreviations on the building floor plans. The floor plans were created at the time of Prince Mansion's purchase by Gordon College.
Image: Floor plans for the 1st floor of Prince Mansion.
Image: The Prince family's large dining room (1947) now houses administrative offices.
Image: The Salon/Drawing Room (1947) is labeled as the living room on the floor plans, but is described was a salon and drawing room by the Prince family. Today this room has been split in two and is used by the Admissions Office.
Image: Floor plans for the second floor of Prince Mansion.
Image: The Second Floor Sitting Room (1947) was one of many sitting rooms within the house and each on was ornately decorated. Today, this room is used as faculty offices.
Image: Frederick Prince's private bedroom (1947) is now used as faculty offices.
Image: Tapestry (1947) from Mr. Prince's bedroom.
Image: Floor plans for the 3rd floor of Prince Mansion.
Image: The Billiards Room (1947) was used by the Prince family as one of their many entertainment rooms. Today it is used by the Admissions Office and faculty.
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