NORWAY — The Norway Landmarks Preservation Society is preparing a request for proposals to put a new roof on the Gingerbread House as part of the group’s efforts to renovate the historic building.

Albert Judd of the The Norway Landmarks Preservation Society told selectmen at their Thursday night meeting that Central Maine Power, FairPoint Communications and Time Warner Cable were working last summer and fall to relocate utility poles near the building. Each utility is responsible for removing their lines from a pole, but officials at the time said that one utility would often hold up the work of another.

“That held us up quite a lot,” said Judd regarding the problem, which has left a cut-off pole still in place, but no power to the building.

The delay also held up removing old poles, painting the new informational kiosk and other work.

Once the pole work is completed this spring, electricity is expected to be installed in the basement where a workshop will be set up for repairs of the building’s original house windows. It is anticipated that volunteers will be trained by a professional on how to repair the historic windows.

While the utility companies delayed some of the group’s work, the group has accomplished other things, such as working with Maine Historic Preservation Commission to extend the Norway Downtown National Register Historic District to include the Gingerbread House and four buildings on Pleasant Street.

The Gingerbread House was excluded from the Historic District when the building was moved out of the district’s boundary lines in June 2011.

At that time, James G. Merry Building Movers of Scarborough moved the Gingerbread House from its original site behind the Advertiser Democrat building at Pikes Hill and Main Street 950 feet up Main Street by Butters Park.

Originally known as the Evans-Cummings House, it has graced the entrance to Norway from the north since 1851. It is more commonly known as the Gingerbread House for its elaborate trim, added in a late 19th-century renovation.

Concerned residents came together to form the Friends of the Gingerbread House to save the building.

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More fundraising

Andrea Burns of the NSPS said the group will soon start another fundraising campaign to raise part of the necessary revenue for the roof and driveway plans. While there are some funds reserved for the next steps, she said supplemental income would be necessary to complete the work.

The Norway Landmarks Preservation Society, dba Friends of the Gingerbread House, has been raising money for several years to rehabilitate the 19th-century house.

The group recently announced that people could donate redeemable bottles and cans to Don’s Redemption Center at 7 Cottage St. in Norway to credit the Gingerbread House account in order to help with renovation costs.

The Gingerbread House is also on Facebook. More information is available at the website at www.gingerbreadhousenorway.org.