LEWISTON — To complete renovations on two historic Bates College buildings last year, engineers first had to figure out a way to shore up the structures.

“It was a lot of scary stuff,” said Paul Farnsworth, facilities engineer at Bates College and project manager for the renovation work at Roger Williams Hall and Hedge Hall.

“We had to put a steel infrastructure in,” Farnsworth said. “We kept the wooden beams, but we had put in a steel infrastructure alongside them to meet seismic codes and all that steel had to sit on concrete pads. So we had to dig under the original foundation in the corners and put the concrete there.”

That delicate work paid off.

The two projects were recognized by the Lewiston Historic Preservation Review Board’s annual awards ceremony Thursday. Farnsworth’s projects were lauded alongside two downtown renovation projects, the work on the Ellard Building on Lisbon Street — today, home to Forage Market — and the Lofts at Bates Mill, the 48-unit apartment building in the renovated section of Bates Mill No. 2.

Hedge Hall was originally built in 1890 as a chemistry laboratory. An addition was built in 1920 and the hall expanded again in 1950.

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Roger Williams Hall in 1895 was part of a divinity school but became an administrative building in 1908. It served as a men’s dormitory for many years but is now home to Bates College’s language departments.

“We stand here today with two remarkable buildings that do honor to our history,” said Douglas Hodgkin, a member of the city’s Historic Preservation Review Board.

The Szanton Co. owner Nate Szanton received historical honors for the Lofts at Bates Mill project, which began taking tenants last October. All 48 apartments in the complex are rented, Szanton said.

“There is a huge, pent-up demand for this kind of housing in mill space in Lewiston,” Szanton said. “Hopefully, we or others will continue to fulfill it.”

Allen Smith, owner of Forage Market and the Ellard Building, was honored for his renovations to the 180 Lisbon St. building. It includes three stories: an apartment on the top floor, a yoga studio on the second floor and the market on the first floor.

staylor@sunjournal.com


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