Shore Road Owner Fined By Historical Commission For Demo Of Portions Of Historic House

CHATHAM – Demolition of large sections of an historic Shore Road home has resulted in the owner being fined by the historical commission.

The commission had approved plans for the property at 162 Shore Rd. that included relocating and renovating a circa 1800 salt box, known as the Joshua Bearse House. However, last month a significant amount of the structure was removed, leaving just one wall standing.

Building Commissioner Jay Briggs placed a stop work order on the project Sept. 15 after being informed by the historical commission that the work violated the order it had issued. At the commission’s  Oct. 7 meeting, builder Doug Whitla acknowledged the error and said all of the original historical material had been preserved and would be restored.

When crews began flaking — the process of disassembling a building to move it to another location — the structure, it was discovered that much of it had been renovated in 2006, Whitlaw said, and very little of the original historic building remained. What did remain was set aside, he said. The historic elements of the building could not be moved intact, he added.

He acknowledged that when the existing conditions were discovered he should have reached out to the commission.

The commission did not impose a demolition delay on the project when it was originally proposed, Chair Frank Messina said, because there was an agreement to preserve the old house. Plans called for the historic building to be moved closer to Shore Road and new construction to be built farther back on the property.

“We regret this,” said William Litchfield, attorney for property owner Sea Piper Realty Trust, which bought the property in 2021 for $12 million, according to assessing department records. A “fair amount of money” was spent to move the building. “If their goal was to knock it down, they could have knocked it down on site and saved themselves a lot of money,” he said. 

Whitla said when restored, the side of the building that faces Shore Road will match the original building in detail and style. 

“That’s our end goal,” he said.

Messina characterized the situation as “gross negligence.”

“A lot of what we do is based on trust,” he said. “We don’t tell them how to do it. We just look at the end results.”

Commission members agreed that their order on the project could have been more clear, but most agreed that some sort of fine was warranted.

“I feel this is gross negligence and there should be some penalty,” Messina said.

The builder and owner have acknowledged the error, Litchfield said, and have already borne “significant expenses” due to the delay and additional work that will be required.

Messina proposed a 30-day fine at $150 a day, even though Litchfield pointed out that the stop work order was in place for 22 days. The commission voted 5-1 to lift the order and levy a $4,500 fine.