More than a Building: UVMC Finds a New Home

How does a family home become a home for music education?

It took about 200 years, but a Federal-style brick house on the green in Lebanon, New Hampshire, is now the headquarters of Upper Valley Music Center, a community music school with a mission to provide and promote the best in music education and ensemble opportunities.

Here’s how it all started:

1800s

Stephen Kendrick (1770-1890) purchases land on the south side and the west side of the Lebanon Common. The south side is where he later builds his home, now known as the Kendrick-Wood Brick House; the west side was the location of his watch and key factory, Kendrick & Davis. He married Thankful Howe in 1797 and they had 10 children.

1815-1816 

Stephen removes a one-story building from the building lot, leaving a barn and a wooden ell (a wing perpendicular to the length of the main building) and relocates it to the north side of the common. He then builds the current Federal-style brick building and attaches it to the original ell.

1818-1978

The building was a single-family residence from 1818 until 1984. It passes from Stephen to 

• George S. Kendrick (1808-1878). George, Stephen’s son, was Lebanon’s town clerk for a number of years and postmaster in 1841. 
• Edmund P. Kendrick (1849-1923), Martha Jane (1837-1899) and Elizabeth (1839-1920), George’s three children
• Frank B. Kendrick (1845-1936) purchases the property in 1880. Frank renovates the house in the latest Victorian fashion, rebuilding the wooden ell on a larger footprint behind the brick house. He thoroughly remodels the interior, possibly adding plumbing at that time. Frank later hires a local contractor to build an imposing two-story porch facing the common and a piazza spanning the full width of the façade on the left side. 
• Ralph Wood (1884-1929), who married Frank Kendrick’s adopted daughter Christine Katherine, purchases the property. In 1925, the house undergoes a second major renovation and the Victorian porch is demolished and replaced by a Colonial Revival structure, which keeps with original style. 
• Christine Katherine inherits the home in 1929. Her two children, Eleanor and Roger Wood, inherit the property when she dies.
• In 1978, Roger is the sole owner of the building.

1984

Roger subdivides the property, separating the house and barn and providing a shared driveway. The house and barn are renovated for commercial use. A series of law firms sublet the building.

2016 

Ben Van Vliet, Executive Director of Upper Valley Music Center, was driving home when he saw a “for sale” sign in the front yard. In a short timeframe — three months — the Board of Directors voted to undertake a capital campaign and sign a purchase and sales agreement.

2017

UVMC purchases Kendrick-Wood house in March 2017. Over the summer, UVMC renovated the interior of the building and began an exterior preservation project to address deferred maintenance and preserve the home’s historic character. This work was supported by the Timken Corporation and the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP). UVMC officially moves in in September.

2025

With a permanent home, UVMC’s musical community has thrived, seeing significant increases in new students each year. New partnerships have broadened the impact of music education, and students and faculty alike have been inspired by the space and acoustics of the studios in UVMC’s new home. In 2025, UVMC will be celebrating 30 years and 8 years in their 8 South Park Street home.