Architect Allen Cox co-founded the Boston-based architecture firm Putnam and Cox in 1902. Cox earned his degree from the College of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before traveling to Paris to further his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts. The Parisian Beaux Arts training emphasized Greek, Roman, Baroque, and Renaissance Revival techniques. Returning to the United States at the height of American Colonial Revival architecture, Cox went on to design many buildings in Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley, including buildings for Mount Holyoke College and the Jones Library in Amherst proper. Other works by Putnam and Cox include the American Unitarian Association Building and Copley Theatre in Boston.

In Amherst, Cox was tasked with designing a New England country inn that shirked “the white-tiled formality of the city hotel as well as the haphazard makeshifts of the enlarged boarding-house.” Completed in 1920, the inn featured small bedrooms, staff quarters, running water, large social spaces, and shared private baths. Amherst’s inn served a new, traveling middle class that valued modern comfort and social rituals. A central brick fireplace encouraged socializing in the main lobby, while the public and private dining rooms facilitated entertainment. In fact, it was possible to host five small dinners at the same time in the original inn. Great care was taken to promote cohesion between the inn, the town, and Amherst College. The design even incorporated a new shared courtyard between the neighboring buildings. Cox also designed buildings along Hitchcock Road in the town as well as seven fraternity houses and the president’s house at Amherst College. The Casper Ranger Construction Company of Holyoke, Massachusetts was contracted to build many of Cox’s designs. As the decades passed, the inn was renovated to reflect changing hospitality standards. Most significantly, larger rooms with ensuite baths became the norm. The enclosure of fireplaces, open galleries, and sun porches were also major alternations to the inn’s original floorplan. Under the leadership of Joslow Associates in 1986, the inn decided to embrace its original 1926 New England charm. The concerted preservation effort led to the removal of mid-century décor. 1920s elements such as the baseboards and chair rails were preserved.

As a Colonial Revival structure, Inn on Boltwood is recognized as a Historic Asset of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The building’s typical Colonial Revival features include exterior louvered shutters and a block-modillion wood cornice. The brick façade displays an elegant Palladian window in the center with an arched pediment window above. The inn’s side-gabled roof has both dormers and chimneys and was originally made from black slate. The loggias and wrapped porches are not traditional Colonial Revival elements. These features reflect style preferences in the original design and later building alterations.

Colonial Revival-style architecture became popular in the United States in the 1870s during the centennial of the American Revolution. Celebrations about 18th-century life encouraged millions of people across the country to “revive” a version of the American past through everyday buildings. Architects first looked to incorporate the design principles of colonial English and Dutch homes. This gave way to Georgian Revival and Federal Revival-style architecture, which echoed the country’s formative years. Colonial Revival-style architecture does not replicate original Colonial-era designs. Instead, architects blend many elements and preferences into a single composition. Designs adapt layouts to reflect evolving technologies, customs, and climates. Colonial Revival-style buildings are therefore typically larger and more robust-looking than their earlier counterparts. Colonial Revival architecture became perhaps the most widely used building form in the entire United States, reaching the height of popularity in the Gilded Age and persisting until the 1940s. Many buildings constructed with Colonial Revival-style from this era are historical landmarks. Architects today still construct residential buildings and commercial complexes using Colonial Revival architecture.

The fertile landscape of the Connecticut River Valley was formed around 10,000 years ago as glaciers receded across the Berkshire Mountains to the west and the rocky central Massachusetts ridges to the east. The riverways became known as Kwinitekw and supported generations of Algonquin-speaking peoples who created successful trade routes between Canada and the southeastern coast. By the 17th century, Connecticut River Valley groups included the Mahicans, Nipmucs, Agawams, Nonotucks, and other Pocumtuck peoples. War between European colonists and the indigenous people broke out in 1675, affecting life across all of New England. In 1691 Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony officially organized Massachusetts, incorporating the westernmost part of the territory. By the early 1700s, the region became predominantly determined by British, and later, American, landowners.

In 1759 the district of Hadley, Massachusetts was incorporated into a new town named for Lord Jeffery Amherst, commander in chief of the British Army. Lord Amherst achieved recognition after his successful military campaigns on behalf of British North America during the Seven Years’ War. Throughout the 19th century, the farming and mill towns surrounding Amherst benefited from southern cotton production and early industrialization. The region was especially well connected to New York City, the Great Lakes, and Boston. As farming and industry both moved to the Midwest by the mid-20th century, the area again became forested and is now primarily known for its picturesque New England seasons. Marketing campaigns promoted heritage tourism and automobile travel to the charming colonial-era Massachusetts towns by nicknaming the region “Pioneer Valley.” The region is also known for its five distinctive universities: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The Five College Consortium evolved between the 1910s and 1970s as the area’s institutions shared resources to support the growing number of individuals seeking higher education. Present day Amherst has around 30,000 permanent residents and welcomes another 30,000 university students to the local colleges each year.

Inn on Boltwood is centrally located on the corner of Boltwood Avenue and Spring Street adjacent to the Amherst College campus in Amherst proper. The entire street was once known as part of the “the Broadway” and later as “Maple Street” and “Maple Avenue.” In March, 1919 “Maple Avenue” became “Boltwood Avenue.” The street is named for Amherst resident Lucius Manlius Boltwood, a 19th century historian. The Boltwood family had been prominent landowners and businessowners in Amherst since the mid-1800s. The most well-known of Amherst’s residents was poet Emily Dickinson. In fact, Emily Dickinson’s paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was one of the founders of Amherst College and Inn on Boltwood was constructed on land once partially owned by the Dickinson family.