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(Photograph by Curtis B. Johnson, C. B. Johnson Photography) -
(Photograph by Curtis B. Johnson, C. B. Johnson Photography)
The wood-frame Keyes Store is one of the most striking vernacular Greek Revival buildings remaining in Vermont. In 1823, at the age of eighteen, Freeman Keyes of Vershire began clerking in the Reed and Gould store in Newbury village. His brother Henry soon joined him and they bought the store in 1831. In 1840 they hired Newbury farmer and home builder Meader to erect a new building on the green. The two-and-a-half-story interpretation of Greek Revival is a world apart from the pattern-book variations of the day. The building face is recessed between broad corner pilasters and two slender, tapered square columns in antis that support a broken-pediment gable with a broad entablature. A second-story gallery, whose delicate metal grille railing appears original, is set within the porch. This example of a galleried commercial building with the so-called Connecticut River Valley porch is in a direct line of local commercial evolution. Here it is updated with a distinctive Greek Revival design that achieves a wonderful balance in the contrast of graceful porch elements with the massive corner and gable enframement. The Keyes's store occupied the basement, first floor, and rear ell, and they rented the second floor as an apartment. After Henry retired, his sons continued to run the store into the 1870s.