Frank Lloyd Wright said, "The presence of a building is in its roof, and what a roof the Ames Gate Lodge has!"— William S. Saunders. Modern Architecture—Photographs by Ezra Stoller. p73.

"Richardson's design was planned to serve several distinct purposes. It was oriented longitudinally and cut by the arched entry to the estate. The large room to the left of the entry was intended to serve as a storeroom for winter flowering plants. The two-story portion to the right of the entry had a caretaker's residence on the lower floor and a 'bachelor hall' for masculine socializing and overflow guest bedrooms on the upper floor. Homolka suggests that the character of the building emerged in the design process and that the decision to construct the gate lodge of glacial boulders came rather late. The boulders are arranged with the largest at the bottom and the smallest at the top."

— Jeffrey Karl Ochsner. H.H. Richardson, Complete Architectural Works. p217.

Details

Address:
135 Elm Street
North Easton, Massachusetts

"The decision to build the gate lodge must have been made in late 1879 or early 1880, since Van Rensselaer dates the project as entering the office March 1880. Construction by Norcross began that summer and was finished the following year. Olmsted later produced landscape designs for the estate which were carried out in 1886-1887. The gate lodge remains today in the private ownership of the Ames family."

— Jeffrey Karl Ochsner. H.H. Richardson, Complete Architectural Works. p217.