In Amagansett, Scoville Hall Will Rise Again

When one door closes, another one opens.

“Dream,” the Reverend Steven Howarth told representatives of many of the community groups—from Alcoholics Anonymous to the Amagansett Food Pantry to the Church of Nazarene—that used to meet regularly at Scoville Hall in Amagansett, until it was destroyed by fire three years ago.

People in AA dreamed of a place to store coffeepots and meet in more sunlight than a church basement typically affords. People from the Hispanic congregation of the Church of the Nazarene dreamed of a space to stash guitars and amplifiers. A production kitchen and walk-in coolers danced in the imaginations of members of the Amagansett Food Institute, who’ve expressed interest in using space in a newly built Scoville Hall.

“We’re putting a lot of attention into the kitchen,” Rev. Howarth said recently, adding that church officials discovered “a great need for rentable kitchen space, especially for local farmers.” Amber Waves Farm, for example, would like to give demonstration classes for Amagansett School students in the kitchen space.

Now that an insurance settlement is in place, the needs and dreams of all those groups—not to mention the Amagansett Presbyterian Church itself, whose fairs and Sunday school pageants had been staged in its old Scoville Hall, and whose pastor’s office was in there as well—will be incorporated into a new Scoville Hall. Designed by Douglas Moyer and to be built by Ben Krupinski, the new hall is expected to take about a year to complete—“if God and the weather cooperate,” Rev. Howarth said recently.

The new building will follow the footprint of the old hall, which dates back to the 1920s. Although the front entrance will sit at grade level, rather than be approached by a set of steps, the replacement will “recall the original in its exterior design,” which was in the shingle style, according to a press release from the church.

The interior, on the other hand, will be transformed to meet present-day needs and desires. Among the new features will be a second-floor banquet hall with cathedral ceilings that could be used for small wedding receptions as well as community dinners and similar events; a first-floor kitchen that meets health department and USDA standards, along with a pastor’s office, reception area and meeting rooms on that level; and basement-level walk-in refrigeration, along with other types of dedicated storage. A dumbwaiter will make it possible to move food and other items from floor to floor. An elevator will ensure that the three levels are accessible to all visitors.

The overall vision is of a community space, much like Ashawagh Hall in Springs, that is attractive and affordable to rent, Rev. Howarth said.

When Scoville Hall was originally built, “the church and community were virtually inseparable,” he pointed out this month in the church’s much less commodious Yule Room, where some groups have been meeting since the electrical fire on October 15, 2011. (Rev. Howarth, who is the Amagansett Fire Department chaplain, learned that the hall was in flames through a fire department text message while out of town.)

Built in 1925 by Albert Warren Topping of Bridgehampton, Scoville Hall was originally called the Parish House and renamed in 1973 in honor of the Reverend Clarence Beecher Scoville. From Depression-era theater productions and concerts, to Christmas fairs and Kumon and day schools, to Masons, Weight Watchers, three types of step groups, a homeowners association and political organizations, it provided a space for many community functions and organizations, whether church-related or not, for nearly a century.

“It’s one of the real strengths of … this congregation, that it sees its mission in part as hospitality,” Rev. Howarth said.

The building’s resurrection was stalled for almost three years by a dispute with the insurance company, which wanted the church to rebuild on top of the foundation, which had survived the fire but into whose balloon framing the new walls would have had to be “feathered.” The insurers offered just under $900,000 but this fall finally settled on almost $1.4 million, thanks to assistance from the litigation attorney Barry Slotnick, who has a summer house in Amagansett, and Ed Williamson, a public adjuster for Young Adjustment Company. Rev. Howarth said it was worth the wait for a more realistic estimate of the cost to replace the building, and that 50 years from now, no one will remember the delay.

The old hall’s charred walls were knocked down in May 2013, and this November the foundation was finally torn apart, leaving nothing more than an empty hole. Rev. Howarth and his predecessor at the Amagansett Presbyterian Church, the Reverend Robert Stuart, together had watched the more recent demolition.

“Even though the building had been gone for three years, watching it go down …” said Rev. Howarth, placing one hand above his heart.

The church has raised more than $125,000 and hopes to raise another $400,000 toward completing the project. Further information can be found at ScoveilleHall.org, or by emailing Rev. Howarth at apchurch@optonline.net.