NORWAY — A prebid meeting was held at the Gingerbread House on Friday as the Norway Landmarks Preservation Society prepares to replace the asphalt-shingle roof this year.

Seven potential bidders gathered at the massive 1851 house on upper Main Street with society member Albert Judd to walk through the building and discuss what the job will entail. The work is expected to begin as early as April 15 and must be completed by June 15, according to the request for proposals.

It will include replacing shingles on the main house and turret roofs, structural repairs where necessary and flashing. Due to evidence of leakage, it is assumed a small portion of the roof framing and sheathing may require repair, according to the document.

The work will also include the four-story turret. The iron fence around the top of it is built in sections about 3 feet long and 12 inches tall. It needs to be removed, restored, painted and reattached.

Judd said the group is trying to reach its $10,000 goal for the roof replacement. So far, $8,300 has been raised through the Buy A Bundle campaign that began in May 2013, he said.

“We’re hoping people will give us the $1,700,” he said.

Once the goal is reached, the restoration group will start raising money for the next major project, which may be window repair, Judd said.

The 80- by 20-foot, two-story Gingerbread House has a gabled roof on its main section with a cross gable next to the turret. The exterior has elaborate millwork.

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. It became commonly known as the Gingerbread House for its elaborate trim added in the late 19th century by John Hazen for Cummings.

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 farther up the street to near Butters Park.

More information and photos may be found at the Gingerbread House Facebook page. Donations may be made via Paypal on the website gingerbreadhousenorway.org or to Friends of the Gingerbread House, P.O. Box 525, Norway, ME 04268.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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