Ide/Phillips house (102 Ide Road)
This home was designed by Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram, of the firm of Cram and Ferguson, for James M. Ide between 1891 and 1893. Cram was a prolific and influential American architect, who also designed Philips Exeter Academy in Exeter NH, the Courthouse in Boston, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. In Williamstown, Cram also designed Chapin Hall, the Williams and Sage dormitories, and the Stetson Library at Williams College, as well as the original Adams Memorial Theater. His theater design was deemed a little too modern and was then modified with a classical pediment at the entrance.
James M. Ide was born in Troy NY in 1850 and graduated from Williams in 1871. He was one of the first non-residents to establish a summer home in Williamstown. He, along with Howard Doughty and Edward C. Gale, helped found the Taconic Golf Club in 1896. They buried tomato cans in the ground to form the holes. The Ide House still backs up to the 13h hole on the Taconic Golf Course today. The house originally stood on 15 acres, but surrounding land has been sold for other homes and is now just over 6 acres.
The Ide home is a lovely example of the Queen Anne Shingle Style. The current owners bought the house in 2002 and added a garage with a pool room and bedroom over it attached by a breezeway. They did extensive restoration work inside. The house now has 21 rooms: 10 bedrooms, 5 full baths and 3 half baths.
