NORWAY — Outside work on the Gingerbread House has come to a temporary halt as winter approaches, Norway Downtown President Andrea Burns said.

Masonry plans for the face of the foundation have been put on hold.

“It’s too cold to lay the bricks so we’ll have to wait till spring,” Burns told the Board of Selectmen on Thursday. Bricks from the old foundation and others will be used to face the more modern foundation.

While some work has stopped because of weather conditions, other work such as the development of a preservation plan for the interior of the building is taking place now, she said. The preservation plan will provide a guide for the step-by-step restoration.

In August, the foundation was poured and set, allowing the house to be placed on its new foundation a few weeks later.

The historic building was moved up Main Street 950 feet to its new location by Butters Park at the western entrance to the National Historic downtown district in June.

Originally known as the Evans-Cummings House, the Gingerbread House and its octagonal tower has graced the entrance to Norway from the north since 1851. The house is 17-feet wide in the rear, 29 feet wide in the front and 88-feet long.

The house’s builder was Richard Evans, who was considered an important contractor who also built the Nash house on Pleasant Street, in Norway and the passenger railroad station at South Paris.

C’s Inc., which is a real estate holding company affiliated with Sun Media Group, publishers of the Sun Journal and Advertiser-Democrat, agreed late in 2008 to delay demolishing the 1851 historic home to see if anyone could figure out a way to move the  house.

While the work continues on the building, the Norway Landmarks Preservation Society, doing business as the Friends of the Gingerbread House, continues to meet monthly and to raise money to keep that effort going.

Donations may be sent to Friends of the Gingerbread House, P.O. Box 525, Norway, ME, 04268.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link