Current owner, Steve Davis, bought the property in 2003 for $175,000 and until recently had tenants living in the four rental units. Davis owns Vermod, the Wilder, VT-based company, and plans to site four net-zero modular homes on the .06 acre property.
Gail Wright, a descendant of the original builder, was dismayed that the home was demolished, but according to Davis it was beyond repair. Noting he was unaware of any special significance of the house, he said, “The building was in disrepair. The foundation was all rolled in on it, the underpinning was all rotted. There was no fixing the building.”
Other cities in Vermont have ordinances that can protect historic buildings. Hartford’s Historic Preservation Commission has been discussing the possibility of enacting an ordinance to provide some level of protection for elderly structures. A flurry of conversations ensued among preservationists when the Commission realized the Wright home was being demolished, but it was too little and too late.
Several selectman said their reaction is the owner of a property ought to be able to do whatever they want with their property. Jonathan Schectmann, chairman of the Preservation Commission, said the main benefit of the ordinance would be to provide time to consider alternatives for an historic structure, perhaps raising funds for restoration.
“By no means would it be considered a taking or a diminishment of the property rights of the owner. It is more looking at a structure as almost having some community-wide consequences, if it were absent,” he said. “This is just giving a little step back, a little respite so that some due diligence and some intelligent thought-taking might occur that might offer some alternatives.”
In the end, Gail Wright purchased 40 of the hand-hewn beams from her ancestor’s house for $500. ##
(Photo credit: Hartford Historical Society–1775 Benjamin Wright, Jr. home)
