NORWAY — The iron crest above the turret of the 150-year-old Gingerbread House will be displayed Saturday to help raise funds for its restoration.
Albert Judd of the Norway Landmarks Preservation Society said the group is looking for money to restore what he calls the “jewel in the crown.”
The iron crest will be displayed from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 10 at the house at 500 Main St.
Work on the four-story turret began in late April as part of the overall roof replacement and repair. Above and Beyond of Lewiston was awarded the contract to repair the gabled roof and its elaborate millwork on the 80- by 20-foot, two-story house.
The iron fence around the top of the turret is built in sections about 3 feet long and 1 foot tall. It is being removed, restored, painted and reattached.
“The fundraiser is to get sponsors to pay for either a feather finial or a section of railing,” Judd said. “There are eight finials and eight railing sections. The finials would be $100 and the railings would be $75.”
All contributions are tax deductible.
Judd said he hopes the community will support the restoration.
The Norway Landmarks Preservation Society, doing business as Friends of the Gingerbread House, has been raising money for several years to rehabilitate the 19th century building.
Originally known as the Evans-Cummings House, it is more commonly known as the Gingerbread House for its elaborate trim, added in a late 19th century renovation by architect John Hazen.
The home, which has a finished attic and full basement, was built by Richard Evans and later bought by Charles Bradley Cummings, founder of the C.B. Cummings & Son dowel mill on Pikes Hill Road, according to a report by Andrea Burns of Norway to Maine Preservation in Portland.
Robert Sallies and Howard James eventually took ownership while they were publishers of the Advertiser-Democrat, Burns wrote.
In 2008, C’s Inc., a real estate holding company affiliated with Sun Media Group, publishers of the Sun Journal and Advertiser-Democrat, agreed to delay demolition of the house if someone could move it. A group of volunteers named Friends of the Gingerbread House, who later formed the nonprofit Norway Landmarks Preservation Society, banded together to save it.
In 2011, the house was moved about 950 feet up the street to a location near Butters Park.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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- An iron crest stands on the turret of the Gingerbread House in Norway. On Saturday, May 10, one of the crests will be displayed on the ground outside the house for a fundraiser for the roof restoration project.
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