[MassHistPres] Looking for 18th-19th century house to move and restore

Tue Mar 15 18:11:05 EDT 2011

“It is a great pity that specimens of our old house cannot be preserved in every town, if necessary at public expense and oversight as public monuments.  Posterity will miss them bitterly; and neither they nor we can re-create the antiquity.”  

Rev. N. H. Chamberlain,  1889

Grey Osprey

Jack Mac Donald

Osprey Design Inc

Restoration and Remodeling

P.O. Box 972

Monument Beach, MA 02553

ospreydesign at verizon.net

(508)317-8469

From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Cynthia Burr
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 3:07 PM
To: jwald at hampshire.edu; MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Looking for 18th-19th century house to move and restore

*sigh* The Worcester Telegram reported this morning that the house in Dudley was demolished yesterday.

Cynthia K. Burr, Executive Director
Millbury Historical Commission
P.O. Box 767, Millbury, MA 01527

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Wald <jwald at hampshire.edu>
To: jack obrien <semassfurniture at yahoo.com>
Cc: masshistpres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Mon, Mar 14, 2011 4:08 pm
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Looking for 18th-19th century house to move and restore

On 14/03/2011 14:17, jack obrien wrote: 

My wife and I am still looking for a 18th century or 19th century house (my wife is partial to Greek Revival, but I am more 18th century) that is in need of moving to save it from demolition. If anyone knows of one, please email details.

Thank you very much,

Jack O'Brien

We were just discussing this one on the list--and trying to promote it via Twitter and other social media. See below.
Jim Wald
Amherst Historical Commission

--- Original Message -------- 

Subject: 

[MassHistPres] DUDLEY - Last chance - Federal-era house going, going, gone...?

Date: 

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:00:33 -0500

From: 

Michele P. Barker <mpbarker at preservationmass.org>

Reply-To: 

mpbarker at preservationmass.org

Organization: 

Preservation Massachusetts/National Trust

To: 

<masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>

Hello, everyone,

It looks as though the end is near for the Priest Williams House at 69 Dudley-Oxford Road in Dudley. This circa 1780 Federal-style house was the residence of Abiel “Priest” Williams, who was a minister in Dudley for 32 years. According to the Historical Commission, this wood-frame house was “once one of the most magnificent dwellings in Federalist Dudley.” The home had been vacant and neglected for nearly a decade before the present owners purchased it in October 2009 for $40,000. The new owners applied for a demolition permit, triggering Dudley’s demolition delay ordinance. The Historical Commission invoked a 12-month demolition delay in November 2009. 

Since then, Dudley’s Historical Commission has been working tirelessly to find solutions for the Williams House before the clock runs out. Preservation Massachusetts listed it as one of the state’s Most Endangered Resources this past fall, in the hopes that the publicity might attract a new owner. The listing did bring the house to the attention of a potential buyer interested in relocating the building, but unfortunately, the cost of the project exceeded his budget, and there doesn’t seem to be another rescuer on the horizon. 

The demolition delay expired three months ago. The owners are willing to sell the house for $1 to anyone who will relocate it, but unless a white-hat rescuer appears on the scene, it looks as though the Williams House will be gone as soon as the weather permits.

I did a walk-through of the house a little more than a year ago with Historical Commissioners Ed Bazinet and Michael Braniff. The house looks remarkably sound, despite years of neglect. Much of the original interior trim remains intact. Even some of the original 12-over-12 windows have survived. 

If there are any last-minute rescuers out there, please contact Ed Bazinet or Michael Braniff of the Dudley Historical Commission at 508-949-8004. 

Go to http://tinyurl.com/2fx633l to read a Worcester Telegram-Gazette article about the house.

Find more photos of the Priest Williams House on Preservation Massachusetts’ Flickr site - http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationmass/sets/72157622883966173/

Thanks!

Michele

Michele P. Barker

Circuit Rider

617-999-3256

mpbarker at preservationmass.org

Preservation Massachusetts

www.preservationmass.org

The Massachusetts Circuit Rider Program is a partnership of Preservation Massachusetts and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Northeast Office.

National Trust for Historic Preservation

www.preservationnation.org

******************************

For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE WHOLE LIST.

MassHistPres mailing list

MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu

http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres

********************************

******************************

For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact 

Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE WHOLE 

LIST.

MassHistPres mailing list

MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu

http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres

********************************

  _____  

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG -  <http://www.avg.com> www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1498/3508 - Release Date: 03/15/11

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20110315/8e89f9fd/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1242 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20110315/8e89f9fd/attachment-0001.jpeg>