Winthrop Murray Crane House

“Sugar Hill”, the Senator W. Murray Crane House, sits some 1,150 feet north of Main Street with a long sweeping lawn and driveway on approximately 19 acres. It is a large, red brick, two-story Georgian Revival-style mansion constructed in 1907-09, and capped by a hipped roof with numerous chimneys. Wall sheathing is red brick laid in a Flemish bond. The three bay wide pedimented south façade facing Main St. is fronted by a projecting bay and open one story flat-roofed piazza with a wide dentilled frieze supported by pairs of columns. The main entrance of the house faces east under a projecting flat-roofed porte-cochere with a wide dentilled frieze supported by similar pairs of columns. The east entrance is fanlit. At the west end of the south façade is another open piazza with similar columns and dentilled frieze connected to a low brick wall enclosing a rectangular formal garden (now grass) on the west side of the house. A modified cornice wraps around the building above the second floor windows. The house is rectilinear in shape with the long axis facing the Main Street east west, with a two-story rear ell on the north side containing service rooms, a kitchen and pastry preparation area, and servants’ bedrooms.

The major change since original construction of the house was the redesign of the rear ell. The rear ell was increased in length and width. The alterations included a new dining room, two servants’ bedrooms, a bath near the kitchen, a new ice room, and a large butler’s pantry. On the second floor, three bedrooms and a servant’s room were added. In the attic, four servants’ rooms and a bath were added. On the exterior, a rear piazza was added at the north end of the ell. Most likely, these changes were made in the 1910s. W. Murray Crane died in 1920 and his wife moved out of the house in 1924. It was then closed up until their son, Bruce Crane and his wife Winnie, moved into the house after their marriage in 1932. The Bruce Cranes occupied the the house until 1991 when Mrs. (Bruce) Winnie Long Crane died.

The first floor consists of a central east-west hall flanked on the south (front) by a library, music room, and original dining room. The hallways retain their original gray-toned Roman-motif wallpaper. On the north is the original mahogany-paneled office (later a billiard room), stairs to a rear piazza, an ornate split staircase leading to a landing and the central second floor hall. The main stairway landing between the first and second floors has a large Palladian window facing the rear of the property with fluted pilasters and molded dentilled architrave. The second story, including the rear ell, contains 13 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, and a sewing room. The attic contains 4 servants’ rooms and a bathroom in the rear ell. The front of the attic is an open unfinished space.

Sugar Hill has had years of deferred maintenance, the last Crane family occupant, Mrs. (Bruce) Winnie Crane who died in 1991, never liked the house according to her last housekeeper who saw her destroy a complete set of blueprints to Sugar Hill by burning them in the fireplace. Between 1991 and 2000, the house was bought by and redecorated by two new owners who did largely cosmetic alterations, such as wallpapering and painting. Presidents who have stayed at Sugar Hill include Theodore Roosevelt, John Calvin Coolidge, and William Howard, Taft. Such performers as Cole Porter and Ella Fitzgerald have graced the music room.

Association with Significant people in Dalton Papermaking, the house was built for Winthrop Murray Crane, who obtained the initial U.S. Government contract for currency paper for Crane & Co. He served Massachusetts politically as Lieutenant Governor from 1896-1899, Governor from 1900-1903, and U.S. Senator of Massachusetts from 1903-1913. His son, Bruce Crane served on the Massachusetts Governor’s Council from 1953-1956 and lived at Sugar Hill from 1932 until his death in 1985. He was promoted to President of Crane & Co. in 1951, a position he held until retirement in 1975.

Sugar Hill is an outstanding example of the type of Revival style estates maintained by the Crane family members in the early 20th century along Route 9 in the western portion of Dalton. It was designed by the Pittsfield architectural firm of Harding and Seaver, who was favored by the Crane family members for both their house designs, Crane & Company-owned mill commissions, and Crane & Co. workers’ housing in Dalton during the early part of the twentieth century.

Sugar Hill is now a senior living community providing assisted living and retirement services to adults fifty-five and older.