Demolition Delay Imposed On Baptist Church

by William F. Galvin
West Harwich resident J. Duncan Berry  speaks against the request to demolish  the West Harwich Baptist Church during a hearing before the historic district & historical commission last week as attorney Jamie Veara of the Davenport Company views slides presented by Berry. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO West Harwich resident J. Duncan Berry speaks against the request to demolish the West Harwich Baptist Church during a hearing before the historic district & historical commission last week as attorney Jamie Veara of the Davenport Company views slides presented by Berry. WILLIAM F. GALVIN PHOTO

 HARWICH – The historic district and historical commission has implemented a one-year delay on the request by Davenport Realty Trust to demolish the historic West Harwich Baptist Church. 
The commission made it clear that it was not satisfied with the depth of research on the church conducted by structural engineers who concluded that the structure needed to be demolished.
The commission made its decision on Jan. 15 after more than three hours of testimony on the request. 
Attorney Jamie Veara, vice president and chief of staff for the Davenport Company, put forward the case for demolition, saying that the company has been interested in repurposing the church for the past four years. The plan is to convert the building to 10 to 13 apartments.
Veara said his company began discussions with the church owner First Baptist Church of West Harwich and Dennisport and learned there were boundary issues relating to the 1.62-acre property, which includes the adjacent cemetery and parking lot. The best way to resolve the issues, he said, was to establish a public/private partnership with the town using eminent domain to resolve the boundary issues. 
The agreement included a vote of town meeting allowing the town to take possession of the property for a brief period during the transfer of title between the church owner and Davenport. At the 2022 special town meeting, the article was amended to place a perpetual historic preservation restriction on the exterior of the church. In the purchase and sales agreement between the town and Davenport, there is a provision for a preservation restriction to “ensure that the features and characteristics that embody the architectural, historic, cultural significance of the exterior of the building will be retained and maintained in substantially renovated condition.” That language does not prohibit demolition, according to Veara.
 “There has been a misconception that our intention was to do this all along,” Veara said.
 Leaks in the roof led to the collapse of the ceiling into the nave in August 2022, he said. Davenport filed two structural engineering reports on the building, one by Michele Cudilo, P.E. in October 2022 reporting that the roof construction system was in an unsafe condition and recommending demolition of the structure.
A second report provided by Coastal Engineering Co. last February said that an exhaustive investigation with structural samplings and testing of materials was not conducted as part of the assessment. “It was not possible to assess the condition of all the existing conditions pertaining to the structural integrity of the building, the report read. “Despite the finishes throughout the building, it appears that the level of repairs and upgrades necessary to create a functioning building structure may result in essentially a rebuilding of the structure.”
Veara presented a third report to the commission last week. HDHC member Robert Doane said that report reaffirmed the previous one filed by Coastal Engineering and was conducted by the same engineer. Doane took issue with the absence of an assessment of the front of the building structure, which he said looked to be in good shape. There was a lot of missing information, making it difficult to determine if demolition was necessary, he said.
Given questions about the structural integrity of the church, Paul Doane recommended that the town hire a structural engineer to get an independent assessment of the building. HDHC Chair Mary Maslowski said the commission has no funds or the authority to hire such an engineer. It would be up to the applicant to fund another structural assessment, she said.
“I haven’t had anybody say it’s going to fall down. I’m not convinced the building has to come down,” Paul Doane said. “We learned our lesson with the Exchange Building. This is the second Exchange Building in my mind.”
“Spurious engineering reports undermine the applicant’s good will,” said West Harwich resident J. Duncan Berry. “One was conducted without a site visit and the second contains zero static analysis and zero assessment of the water versus structural damage.”  
Veara said the demolition is an essential part of saving the stained glass windows for reuse in the new building. He said they would have to be cut out of the walls before demolition. If the structure deteriorates further, the windows could be lost. Veara said Davenport would come back to the commission with detailed design plans showing the replication of the church.
Berry compared the history of this church to a multi-generational telescope of people’s existence. He cited the Chase family history associated with the church and village from 1750 to 1940 and spoke of the abolitionist movement there and the textbook Greek Revival style of the church and its prominence in the village.
Both Berry and Bob Nickerson, a structural engineer, made recommendations for structural engineers who focus on historic buildings and who would examine the church thoroughly for the commission.
Jamie Kline, a house mover and builder, said he has been inside the building and “structurally that building is as straight as an arrow,” he said. “They don’t build buildings like that today. It would be a shame to tear that building down.” 
Matt Sutphin said there is no depth to the structural report and it is being used to instill fear. He also said the purchase and sales agreement does not reflect the sense of the town.
“You’ll go down in history as the ones who redeemed the town, or you’ll go down the way of the history of the Exchange Building,” Sutphin warned of the decision the commission had to make.
Judith Ward said her father, Rev. Clifford Ward, was the minister in the church from 1957 to 1970. The tears, the sorrow and the joys of past generations would be lost with the demolition of the church, she said.
John Carey, who is restoring the adjacent West Harwich schoolhouse, said the Davenport Company’s intent is exceptional, but he encouraged it to give the structural condition of the church another look.
HDHC member Brendan Lowney offered a motion declaring the church a structure of historic significance and invoking the one-year demolition delay provision. It was approved unanimously.
The commission made it clear that if Davenport decides during that period to come back with alternative plans not including demolition, the delay could be lifted and a new hearing would be held.