Historic home in Chepachet slated for demolition

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The 1800s historic home, located at 1272 Putnam Pike in Chepachet is scheduled for demolition. NRI NOW photo by Dick Martin

GLOCESTER – The historic home located at 1272 Putnam Pike is now scheduled for demolition. At the recent Town Council meeting, the board voted to tear down the 1800s house since no one has come forward to save it, and it would cost close to an estimated $750,000 to renovate it.

“We did talk about this awhile ago,” said Council President William Worthy. “We met with some people over there, someone who was interested, then we heard nothing. Crickets after that. The Department of Housing doesn’t want that piece of property either. Some people were here discussing the historic value of that building, but our current building official has condemned the building. It is recommended that we take it down.”

Those in question were Sarah and Mango Rivera, contractors who visited the property in August of last year, but never reached out to the council after. When contacted at the time by NRI NOW, they said they were in the process of assessing the property and determining costs to save it.

Councilor Walter Steere, whose ancestors once lived in the house in question for a period of time, previously read a long list of detractions delineated by the Rhode Island Housing Authority when they investigated the building for possible use as low income housing. It included citing walls out of plumb, sagging floors, poor structural integrity, outdated electrical and plumbing, floor joists in poor condition, sagging roofs, holes in walls and numerous other deficiencies. Department of Public Works Director Gary Treml added that both the septic and well had to be replaced as well.

The building, which sits on 10 acres of town property, dates back to the 1800s and is described in the 1980 Rhode Island Historic Preservation Commission’s report as a “1 ½ story late Victorian structure with a small, brick chimney, a central entry in a 5 bay façade with gabled dormers and a late Victorian porch.”

Since the early 1900s, however, the building has been occupied by numerous tenants and owners, and has deteriorated over the years as a result.

“I went in the building last year,” said Councilor Jonathan Burlingame. “It’s not salvageable.”

Burlingame added that there was a hearing, and people wanted to save it, but the town does not have the money for the restoration.

“We’re not going to use taxpayer money to pay for it,” he said.

When the question of costs to tear down the building was mentioned, Burlingame recalled a house near his family home being burned down by the fire department years ago for a training exercise in handling house fires. He suggested running the possibility by the fire department to see if they were interested.

After more discussion the council agreed to leave the matter in Treml’s hands to determine if the fire department is interested. If they are not, then the house will be demolished by the DPW with only the cost of dumpsters to be considered. Regardless of what decision is made, the town will then remove any debris and fill in the foundation for minimum expense.

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