CALAIS, Maine — History or hazard?
That’s the crux of the debate swirling in Calais this week as a demolition crew knocks down a downtown, 1930s-era red brick building at 10-12 Church Street.
Greg Paxton, executive director of Yarmouth-based Maine Preservation, contends the Neoclassical-style building that once served as the Washington County community’s courthouse is “sound, well-built, architecturally significant and highly reusable.”
Jeff Nevins, a spokesman for FairPoint Communications, which owns the long-vacant building, contends it is “structurally compromised.” He claims a heavy snowfall could cause the building to collapse, perhaps onto FairPoint’s abutting central office building, which houses an array of sophisticated telecommunications equipment.
The city of Calais issued a demolition permit last week, and the work required to safely bring down the structure began Wednesday with the one-by-one removal of the building’s slate roofing tiles. The demolition is being undertaken by a local contractor, Richard Mingo Construction.
Calais City Councilor Anne Nixon is among those distressed to see the building come down.
“It’s a beautiful building with a lot of history, and [demolition] will leave a big hole in the downtown,” she said Wednesday. “It would be a perfect place for a little theater or some other civic-minded activity.”
Paxton agrees that the Calais demolition revives public confusion over what constitutes a “historic” building. He agrees that “old” does not constitute “historic.”
The National Register of Historic Places program administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior has three basic criteria for a building or site to be considered “historic.” It must have been either associated with a historic event — such as Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., where Lincoln was assassinated — or it must have a direct connection to a historic figure, such as a presidential birthplace. The National Register also lists buildings determined to be rare and distinctive examples of a particular style of architecture.
“Appreciation of historic preservation is relatively new,” Paxton said. “Many of these buildings are seen by communities as a burden, and people do not see that they can be a major catalyst in downtown revitalization efforts.”
Nevins said Wednesday that FairPoint is not insensitive to local history nor the significance of historic properties.
“We own a number of historic properties across the Northeast, and we understand how important they are to the landscape of northern New England,” he said. “FairPoint invested $2 million to restore the building on Forest Street in downtown Portland that houses our central offices there.”
Nevins said an engineering analysis of the Calais building showed structural problems with the roof and the condition of its brick walls, which he says are crumbling in places.
The future use of what will soon be a vacant lot has yet to be determined, Nevins said.
C’est la vie.
Old does not mean historic. We don’t have to save every single building and put it on some registry because its been around a while. Its just a building, probably old, terrible to heat in the winter, nothing is level anymore…sometimes its okay to cut your losses and just tear something down.
Yeah easier to invent a different history when there is nothing around to contradict.
Calais is a sad old run-down border town. Nothing there to see.
I remember years ago ( 80’S) when there was a
big uproar over taking down the old Customs House in Calais.
Petitions, radio stories,lots of ink in the Calais Agravater paper,much debate/argument, etc.
It was a real nice building,massive solid stone work nice interior details
and etc
Secret tunnel from the Underground Railroad days to the river bank (?).
Style and workmanship from a bygone era.
Never to be seen again.
… But it came down to be replaced with a half empty parking lot.
That match the half empty storefronts that line Main St.
Progress.
Was that the old Federal Building? I am amazed that Calais tore down the Old Federal Building, as well as the Old Parochial School. Those were two gems.
Though I agree with Fennis, a decent picture of the property would have been nice to accompany the story (duh BDN.)
What, a picture, how can you stress out this fine reporter, I am surprised he got the right town listed in the article.
Yes , the new cub reporter cant be bothered to seek out the obvious stories that abound Downeast.
Misses the boat on a regular basis.
And when he has a story he posts some generic “file fotos”
from who knows where !
With the offer for us country bumpkins to “buy photo” ??
Huhhh ??? Ya kiddin’ me ??
Crikeee !!
Not sure about the newcomers qualifications, but he
seems overpaid to me, thats for sure.
Since you are all such great writers, why don’t one of you get out of your computer chair, go take the picture and write an article? Easy to criticize from the couch.
SR,
Actually , I had another piece of mine in a local paper last week.
A number of my photos and articles have been internationally published. And acclaimed.
When the BDN offers to cut me a check I will be on the newsbeat.
Camera in hand.
….Until then , I will stick with my day job.
Got any leads?? Do share.
Already did my stint…back when there were real newspapers.
I’m guessing a phone call to the Advertiser could have produced one.
FairPoint itself is a hazard
Oh my gawd, stranded in Calais, no train, no four wheeler trail, no bus, well maybe a bus, the price of gas will haunt Calais, nice town, but just a 100 miles from nowhere, and not a good job to find.
A good photo of the building is in this issue of
The Quoddy Tides newspaper , published in Eastport.
Also a great photo of the car with 2 elderly women from Lubec
that went over the cliff in Eastport last week.
Great stories and great photos from that little paper.
Somebody may want to give Mr.Walsh a wake-up call.