Architect Karen T. Hunt, comes from a family of multigenerational Pittsfield-based builders, but she hewed her own path studying architectural history and design at Notre Dame. After years living in cities across country with her own family, the Berkshire County native returned home, where her specialty made her the perfect person to oversee the rehabilitation of the new Hotel on North. So perfect, in fact, that Hunt was this year’s recipient of a Preservation Massachusetts 2016 Paul and Niki Tsongas Award. The theme of the 2016 award was “Women in Preservation" and Hunt was honored last month at the annual Preservation Awards Dinner in Boston. I was born into a family of multigenerational builders in Pittsfield, Mass., and having an inherent love of art and mathematics, architecture was a natural expression for me as a career choice. My college years at the University of Notre Dame were a wonderful combination of the artistic aspects of Design, Theory and Architectural History supplemented by physical labor and practical hands-on experience working for David J. Tierney, Jr., the family construction company, during the summer months. I contemplated returning home after graduating, but a favorite professor advised, “Don’t go home until you have something of your own to bring back." So rather than returning to Pittsfield, I took a job at a prestigious architectural firm in downtown Chicago, where I met my husband, a structural engineer. Our career choices sent us back and forth across the United States. I worked in large architectural offices, a historic preservation firm, and had my own practice. When our third child chose to follow her older brothers to college in the Northeast, it was finally time to return "home."
In 2009, I opened my architectural practice, Karen T. Hunt, Architects, in Pittsfield. Since then, I've had the privilege to work with many wonderful clients in the Berkshires including Tanglewood and Main Street Hospitality, with the added bonus of working with my family’s construction company on several projects. One of the aspect of architecture I love most is coordinating the many disciplines and perspectives required to make a project a reality. The recently completed Hotel On North project, which earned the Massachusetts Preservation Award for Adaptive Reuse, Rehabilitation and Restoration, was a family project. It provided the opportunity to assemble a talented team of local designers, engineers, artisans, artists, tradesmen and business professionals committed to the revitalization of downtown Pittsfield. The team was the treasure of the project. Living on farmland in Stephentown, N.Y., I've developed an authentic appreciation for the land and the seasons. Not only the beauty of them but the way life is connected to the cycles of seasons — watching farmers plant and harvest their fields, learning about the birthing cycles of the cows who live next door and being aware of the shifting positions of sunrise and sunsets. One of my favorite activities is running the land with my farm dog. It's truly a gift to be "home."
