SCARBOROUGH (AP) – Demolition of a military observation tower built on Prouts Neck during World War II has begun despite this town’s efforts to accommodate a new property owner who wanted to build a house.

The Scarborough Historical Society and the Maine Historic Preservation Commission wanted the tower preserved, but the land owner has the legal the right to tear it down, said town manager Ron Owens.

Last fall Charles Parkhurst of Greenwich, Conn., bought the land, including the tower and a seven-bedroom house, for $3 million, according to land records.

The town put the demolition permit for the tower on hold when questions about the tower’s historical significance arose. An adjacent house was razed last month.

Built in 1944, the boxy, steel-reinforced tower is one of dozens of military structures sprinkled along Maine’s coast during the war so lookouts could watch for German vessels. It has sat unused for decades in a gated community.

Parkhurst, a financial analyst, said he considered putting the tower to some sort of use, possibly building a house around it. But he said the deed forbids construction on the tower’s lot, which is larger than the tower’s footprint.

“We couldn’t, quote-unquote, enhance it in any way. So it would just sit there and continue to block our view of the ocean,” Parkhurst said. “We thought we were doing what was right for us and the community in the long run.”

While some neighboring residents were fond of the tower, Parkhurst said others were happy to see it go. There are similar towers nearby, he said.

A place in the National Register of Historical Places would have provided some protection, Owens said, but a property owner must apply for such a listing to be considered.

There was no legal protection for the tower, he said.

“At the end of the day, there wasn’t any way to do it unless the property owner wanted to do it,” he said.

Towers like the one in Prouts Neck also stand in Cape Elizabeth and on islands in Casco Bay. Once the war was over, the towers were left unused.

Onlookers gathered Friday to watch a piece of heavy equipment break off jagged bits of wall and punch at one of the upper floors.

John O’Connor, who works for a caretaker, said Parkhurst should have left the tower.

“It’s part of the history of the bay,” he said. “I don’t think it should go away. It cannot be replaced. It’s a simple as that.”

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