[MassHistPres] Fwd: Fwd: Mass Audubon demolishes 1696 house in Natick -- correction.

[Richard McGrath]

Yes, lessons here for us all.  A Massachusetts tragedy. Mass. Audubon is
suppossed to be protecting the natural environment, which this house and
history were a part of....lets not separate humanity from nature. There is
no line there.

 Its not a fortune to dismantle the house and put it in storage with
volunteers and skilled supervision, or restoring it on site...a perfect
project for the  training of crafsmen to understand and protect our rapidly
disappearing, historic architectural commonwealth. The North Bennet St
School offer was a foolishly missed opportunity.

 In Lunenburg, there are roughly 80 to 100 houses, barns and other
structures existing that were on an early 19th century survey map of the
town that documented well over 200. In the 23 years, or so, that I have
been on the historical commission we have lost 8 of those houses for two
reasons, demolition by neglect and.....no good reason. After the demolition
of a 1728 house, which was in perfect condtion, for a parking lot by the
Catholic Church, the town adopted a 6 month demo delay, then a 1 year
delay. Applicants went through the motions or cheated, and waited  them
out. When we went to an 18 month delay with specified accountability from
the applicant and the Lunenburg Historical Commission having the final say
on demolition at the end,  the carnage stopped. A structured 18 month demo
delay is  the best tool we have and every community needs to have
one....otherwise your demo delay is a joke and in a 100 years we will only
have pictures and informative kiosks.

I won't be renewing my Mass Audubon membership....

Richard McGrath   Chair LHC

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: George Triantaris via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Date: Mon, Mar 3, 2025, 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Fwd: Mass Audubon demolishes 1696 house in
Natick -- correction.
To: De Witt Dennis <dennis.j.dewitt at gmail.com>
Cc: MHC MHC listserve <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>


So tired of reading these stories.  I wonder if anything will be left in 50
years.


Best,

George Triantaris, Chair
Harvard Historical Commission

On Mar 2, 2025, at 2:41 PM, Dennis De Witt via MassHistPres <
masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:

I provided a bad link.  Here is the correct one.

<image2-1-67be362ad596b-640x432.jpeg>
Mass Audubon demolishes the oldest house in Natick
<https://www.boston.com/real-estate/real-estate-news/2025/02/26/natick-oldest-house-demolished-mass-audubon/>
boston.com
<https://www.boston.com/real-estate/real-estate-news/2025/02/26/natick-oldest-house-demolished-mass-audubon/>
<https://www.boston.com/real-estate/real-estate-news/2025/02/26/natick-oldest-house-demolished-mass-audubon/>

Dennis De Witt
Brookline


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