Architects Praise Bank Street Firehouse Adaptive Reuse

 HARWICH – Adaptive reuse of structures is one of the most practical and cost-effective strategies for expanding affordable and attainable housing in rural tourism-driven economies, according to the Boston Society of Architects, and the conversion of the former Bank Street fire station property is a model example. 

The Boston Society of Architects (BSA) highlighted the fire station conversion during a presentation on July 16 on its new guidebook on adaptive reuse as a tool for addressing the housing shortage on Cape Cod.

The conversion of the fire station into affordable housing, a community event space and a firehouse museum is one of six case studies used in the guidebook entitled “What Is Adaptive Use: Practical Solutions for the Cape and Islands,” which highlights a pathway to expand housing opportunities.

 “The Cape and Islands face a unique housing challenge shaped by limited land, aging infrastructure, environmental sensitivity, and seasonal housing pressures,” said Wandy Pascoal, senior manager of the BSA’s Future Forms Lab. “This guidebook is intended to serve as a practical resource for architects, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, developers, and community advocates seeking creative housing solutions that align with the region's environmental and historic context.”

Communities across the Cape and Islands continue to face severe housing pressure driven by seasonal occupancy and limited supply. While only 4 percent of housing statewide is considered seasonal, that number rises dramatically on the Cape and Islands, reaching 33 percent on Cape Cod, 57 percent on Nantucket and 61 percent on Martha’s Vineyard. This significantly limits the availability of year-round housing for local workers, families and older residents, according to BSA. 

 “Seasonality is definitely a defining challenge here,” said August Buziak, BSA’s Civic Design Lab summer fellow. “A large amount, if not the majority of housing in these communities is seasonal. And the evolving demand post-COVID, where people want to live in more remote areas, and are able to work remotely, has really impacted the ability for people to afford housing here.”

 Elisabeth Kellam, a historic preservation planner with the Cape Cod Commission, noted that estimated housing demands are projected to outpace supply on the Cape by 11,000 to 22,000 units by 2035.

 Adaptive reuse involves retrofitting existing buildings for new purposes such as changing an old firehouse to housing. Projects that utilize previously developed or disturbed land and may stimulate or enhance underused and existing centers of activity, according to the BSA. Reusing existing buildings can minimize environmental impacts by not disturbing vacant land while reducing the need for carbon-emissions-intensive new building materials, and may provide savings or efficiencies if able to reuse existing infrastructure, the group said.

 The adaptive reuse of the former fire station on Bank Street fits that mold. When the fire department headquarters were relocated to Sisson Road, the former station was used briefly by the harbor department as a workshop, before a new workshop was built at Saquatucket Harbor. The firehouse sat empty.

 “The building had great bones,” former fire chief Norman Clarke said during the presentation. 

The private Harwich Fire Association took an interest in the building and was looking for a location to display the 1927 model fire truck that had been recently restored by the association. 

Harwich Conservation Trust was developing plans for eco-restoration on 44 acres of the adjacent former cranberry bog and was looking for a way to improve the gateway to the 66-acre Robert F. Smith Cold Brook Preserve, said Harwich Conservation Trust Executive Director Michael Lach. 

The firehouse property sat on 2.06 acres and included a substantial parking lot between the firehouse and the Cold Brook Preserve. The association and the trust came together in a partnership, and when the town placed the firehouse up for auction, the partnership purchased the property for $300,000.

 “We didn’t know what was going to happen when we started,” Clarke told the gathering of about 25 people at the presentation.

But the association began raising funds, doing boot collections during events in Harwich Port. The need for affordable housing, especially for local employees, weighed into the reuse of the structure. There was community participation in developing plans. The town’s affordable housing trust and community preservation committee also assisted with funding.

Today the nearly 100-year-old structure has three one-bedroom apartments on the second floor, a community events room that the association rents out for weddings, birthday parties, and organization events, and space for storage of the 1927 fire truck.

 While the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities has not yet issued the approval to hold the lottery for tenants for the apartments, Clarke said approval is anticipated shortly. Clarke escorted people through the building and apartments after the presentation.

 The Cold Brook Preserve includes eco-restoration of the marsh and new Americans with Disability Act-compliant walkways through the preserve, said HCT Executive Director Michael Lach. He also highlighted the trust’s restoration design of the cranberry bogs in partnership with the town that includes ponds and wetlands that will attenuate nitrogen from the surrounding neighborhoods in the Saquatucket Harbor Watershed.

Lach and HCT President Tom Evans led a walk through the Cold Brook Preserve after the presentation.

 “It’s exciting to see how adaptive reuse has re-imagined a second life for this building,” said Lach. “At the same time, HCT had a companion project that had been unfolding for several years prior. That’s the Cold Brook Eco-Restoration Project, which can perhaps be thought of as adaptive reuse for the environment.”