Chaffee Art Center
16 South Main St
Rutland, VT
A regional art center filling an ornate 1890s Queen Anne mansion, where local and Vermont artists show and sell their work amid turrets, carved woodwork, and stained glass.
The Chaffee Art Center makes its home in a spectacular Queen Anne mansion built in the 1890s, a confection of turrets, gables, carved woodwork, and stained glass in downtown Rutland. Since the 1960s the house has served as a community art center, its ornate parlors and rooms hung with the work of local and regional artists.
The pairing of grand Victorian architecture with contemporary Vermont art gives the Chaffee its particular charm. You come as much for the house, one of the finest of its era in the region, as for the ever-changing shows on its walls.
What Guests Love
- An art gallery set inside a lavish Victorian mansion
- Original woodwork, turrets, and stained glass as a backdrop to the art
- Rotating exhibitions and sales of work by Vermont artists
- A welcoming, community-minded arts hub in downtown Rutland
Worth Knowing
- The mansion itself is half the attraction, so notice the architecture along with the art
- Hours are limited and tied to exhibitions and events; check the schedule before visiting
- The center hosts classes and an annual outdoor art festival worth timing a trip around
- Admission is generally free or by donation, with works for sale
Details
Rutland, VT
Learn about Chaffee Art Center
The mansion
The building went up in the 1890s during Rutland's marble-and-railroad heyday, when the city's wealth funded some of Vermont's most elaborate homes. Its Queen Anne style piles on the era's favorite flourishes: asymmetrical towers, wraparound porches, patterned shingles, and richly carved interior woodwork.
Much of that craftsmanship survives inside, so visitors move through paneled rooms and past stained-glass windows that would be museum pieces on their own. The house was given over to the arts in the 1960s and named for the family long associated with it.
A center for regional art
The Chaffee functions as a nonprofit community art center, mounting rotating exhibitions, representing local artists, and offering classes and workshops. The work on view spans painting, photography, sculpture, fiber, and fine craft, much of it for sale, so a visit doubles as a chance to take home a piece of Vermont.
Its annual art festivals, including an outdoor show in a downtown park, spill the center's mission out into the city and draw artists and buyers from across the region.
Rutland, the marble city
Rutland grew rich on marble in the nineteenth century, quarried in the nearby towns of Proctor and West Rutland and shipped across the country for monuments and public buildings. That industry paid for the mansions, churches, and the broad downtown that give the city its bones.
Today Rutland is a working small city and a gateway to the central Green Mountains, with Killington's ski slopes close by and marble still worked in the surrounding towns.
Season by season
The center is an indoor, all-season stop, welcome on a rainy or snowy day and an easy pairing with a Killington ski trip in winter or a downtown stroll in summer.
Its calendar peaks with special exhibitions and the warm-weather art festivals, so timing a visit to a show or event rewards the trip. Autumn brings foliage travelers through Rutland on the way to the mountains.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Rutland
Downtown Rutland
In town
A historic small-city downtown with shops, restaurants, and a lively farmers market.
Vermont Marble Museum
About 5 miles, a 12 minute drive
In nearby Proctor, exhibits on the marble industry that built the region, with a hall of stone from around the world.
Killington
About 15 miles, a 25 minute drive
One of the largest ski resorts in the East, with a summit gondola that also runs in summer and fall.