Swampscott Pitman House Lost To History As Efforts To Save It Fail

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The clock struck midnight on the historic Swampscott Pitman House this week when the Select Board chose not to support a "12th-hour" effort to spend $150,000 to move and store the Colonial-era house for preservation and refurbishing as affordable housing.

The house, which needed to be moved within weeks as part of construction on the new Elm Place 40B Development, was set for demolition on Friday.

"I'm very disappointed to see our community lose such a historic home," Select Board member MaryEllen Fletcher, one of two Board members to support spending the money to save the one-time home of town founder Samuel Cloon Pitman and Revolutionary War hero Joseph Richards, told Patch on Friday, "especially when it could have been avoided."

Select Board member Doug Thompson brought the ARPA proposal to the Board on Wednesday after a partnership with the Affordable Housing Trust to move the house to a vacant lot on Hillside Avenue failed to gain Zoning Board approval for a needed frontage variance last month.

The proposal would have had the town pay for the moving and storing of the house until it could be relocated and refurbished through a partnership with the Affordable Housing Trust and/or Habitat for Humanity. But Board members David Grishman, Katie Phelan and Peter Spellios said that while they all supported the spirit of the efforts, they could not vote to pledge the money to a project that still carried a considerable degree of uncertainty and no time left to shore up plans and financing for the house's future.

"There is only one town founder so this seems like a particular, unique situation," Thompson argued to the Board on Wednesday. "That's why I keep trying to find a way."

For a house that dates back nearly three centuries, time was always the biggest enemy to its survival with the impending Elm Park 40B project forcing its removal or demolition and its full historical significance only fully discovered in recent months.

While the exterior has changed over time — the renovation would have restored the look of the outside of the building to more of its classic characteristics — the inside includes framing in the basement consistent with a vintage Revolutionary War style.

"I appreciate Doug Thompson's tireless efforts to save it," Fletcher told Patch. "Doug was elected in the spring and worked tirelessly with (Historic Commission Chair) Nancy Schultz and (Director of Community and Economic Development) Marzie Galazka.

"This could have been avoided."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)