Wenham Historic Properties Survey on Schedule

WENHAM, MA – Last spring, the Wenham Historical Commission was awarded a $10,000 Massachusetts Historical Commission grant to survey historic properties outside of Wenham's historic district. Wenham Historical Commission Chair James Howard said the survey is on schedule and has finished the first two of four phases.

Town Administrator Peter Lombardi said the project was also awarded $10,000 in CPC funds at the Town Meeting last spring. The town chose consultants Stacy Spies and Wendy Frontiero to research and inventory more than 90 homes in town built before 1900, and located outside the historic district. Spies is an architectural historian and historic preservation consultant, and Frontiero is an architect and preservation consultant, according to their proposal.

Howard said the Wenham Historical Commission has included some historic buildings in the survey at the behest of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, like the Center School, Buker School, and Iron Rail.

"We have also added some 'area' surveys for Friend Court and Monument Street. We also discovered that the house at 7 Porter Street is an old Sears Roebuck kit house and is historically significant," said Howard.

He said the first drafts of the survey are expected to be completed in March. Lombardi said the final report will likely be completed by June 2017, and copies will be available at Town Hall, the Hamilton-Wenham Regional Library, and on the Town website.

Image via WikiCommons by user Fletcher6, Wenham Town Hall