WESTFIELD – The Historical Commission voted to bestow the 2014 Annual Preservation Award to the Baystate Dental PC group for its restoration of the iconic Morgan House at 29 Broad Street.
The Historical Commission has issued the Annual Preservation Award since 2004 to recognize those individuals, businesses and groups making contributions to preserve the city history and architectural integrity.
The Morgan House was built around 1820 by Major Archippus Morgan (1772-1857). It was maintained as a residence until 1944 when it was purchased by Stanley and Donald Healey and converted for use as a funeral home. In recent years, it served as a rectory for the First United Methodist Church.
The Board of Directors of Westfield On Weekends (WOW) nominated the project for the award citing the Morgan House as one of Westfield’s architectural treasures that was rehabilitated and restored to maintain the architectural integrity of the beautiful building.
The Morgan House was slated for demolition just two years ago and the city would have lost another gem. The Historical Commission is delighted to honor the efforts of Bay State Dental to maintain the history and graceful beauty of the corner of Broad Street.
In the nomination for the award, the Westfield On Weekends Board cited “Dr. Kevin Coughlin and his colleagues (for having) revitalized and maintained the southeastern corner of Park Square, while providing our city with a thriving new dental practice…”
The WOW Board of Directors nominated Baystate Dental because of the renovation of the Morgan-Way House which “now gleams as a beautiful celebration of our city’s historic past and a testament to its vibrant future.
“As one of Westfield’s architectural treasures, the structure had fallen into disrepair and as such was slated to be demolished and replaced with a new building, which while very well done, could not match the historic grandeur of the original building,” the directors wrote in their nomination.
“As the newest owners of the Morgan-Way house, Baystate Dental, P.C. preserved the main structure and architectural integrity of the building. Few town greens can boast of such a beautifully renovated structure, accompanied by first-rate landscaping.”
Kevin Coughlin DMD, said this morning that he and his Baystate Dental partners, Dr., Gary Circosta and Dr. Matthew Haluch, were thinking about establishing a practice in Westfield.
“We saw improvements in the city, to the (Park Square) Green and thought it would be nice to have a presence,” Coughlin said. “We elected to purchase the property at 29 Broad Street, then had to make a choice of going with a large professional building, which was probably the better financial investment, or to restore the existing building.
“We elected to do the letter, to invest time, money and expertise to restore that building to its former grandeur,” Coughlin said. “I think the message is that we’re glad we did the renovation we did, I don’t think a large commercial building would fit as well as the original structure.”
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik and members of the Historical Commission presented Coughlin and his Westfield staff with a plaque Thursday in the City Council Chambers of City Hall.
