NORWAY — The porch of the Gingerbread House will be removed this week, paving the way for the eventual move of the massive 19th century structure.
Contractor Paul Chabot of Chabot’s Construction in Greene said Monday that he expects to remove the porch using an excavator with a rotating grapple on Wednesday. Although he will not put any workers on the porch because of its rotten condition, Chabot said they will try to salvage as much of the intricate trim as possible.
The next step will be the removal of one chimney and a site review by building mover James Merry, owner of James G. Merry Building Movers of Scarborough. Then the 1850s Gingerbread House, now situated near the intersection of Main Street and Pikes Hill Road, will be moved up Main Street to a small lot by Butters Park near the Pennesseewassee dam.
The 80-by-17-foot building, known historically as the Evans-Cummings House, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The building is more commonly known as the Gingerbread House for the elaborate “gingerbread” trim that was put on the home during a renovation near the turn of the 19th century. Except for the porch and a rear ell, the building has been deemed structurally sound by Les Fossel of Restoration Resources.
“We feel privileged and very excited to be able to help our town in this way,” said Pat Shearman of the Norway Landmarks Preservation Society. The nonprofit organization, which is doing business as Friends of the Gingerbread House, has worked for the past two years to acquire the building and move it to a new lot.
The papers that officially transferred ownership of the building to the Norway Landmarks Preservation Society were signed in the offices of C’s Inc. chief financial officer Ed Snook Monday about 8:30 a.m.
C’s Inc., a real estate holding company affiliated with the Sun Media Group — publishers of the Sun Journal and Advertiser-Democrat — told the town in 2008 that the building would be demolished in early 2009 if the grassroots group could not raise enough money and develop a plan to move it from the existing location.
Shearman said the effort to raise more than $100,000 and create a workable plan was due to the help of many people in Norway and beyond.
“We’re extremely grateful to all members of the community who have participated in this positive effort to save the Gingerbread House,” she said. “So often we hear about negativity and it’s my experience that the town of Norway and Oxford Hills has always taken a positive outlook.”
“Without this attitude a big project like this, which is a grassroots effort, would never have come about,” she said. People ranging from older residents who recall the home when it was lived in, to the Norway Downtown members, surveyors and lawyers who donated their time and expertise and young people who sold candy, made Gingerbread House pins, held bake sales and did many other things to help raise the money, all helped in the effort, she said.
“We’re very blessed with the young people,” Shearman said.
Once the chimney is removed, Shearman said they will be looking for volunteers to help clean the bricks which may be reused in the renovation of the house.
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