When a hotelier named Beal and his partners built the building we know today as “L.F. Pike & Sons” or “The Blue Store” in Norway as a “temporary” building, with little or no foundation and at least a third shorter than we see it today, we can be reasonably sure he had no idea that over time it would have at least three additions, not to mention electric lights, central heat and indoor plumbing. He could not have known that the passage of decades would add larger windows, a makeshift partial foundation or even the tin ceilings.

One hundred and forty years later, plus or minus, when we, the current owners, discovered that the false roof, added in the late 1990s, had “pancaked,” we had no idea of the architectural history or the hard decision journey we were about to embark upon.

With hitching posts and plank sidewalks in front and a stable behind, the builders obviously never needed to consider the impact of automobiles, much less tractor-trailers.

The facade, unusual for New England, was very likely quite a sensation in its day and was kept in place in spite of decades of evidence that it created water and snow problems, probably from the first 20 to 40 years of its life.

Over the past several months we have been “peeling back the layers of time,” discovering a plaster ceiling above the tin, an early electrical conduit system, refitted windows, early plaster patches and so on.

Finding , as well, that even after the false roof was added,water was making its way in the walls and façade, deteriorating the structure and creating a large mold issue. And in spite of a new sill, added around 2004-2006, the building continues to sink.

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Architects, engineers, contractors and carpenters have been consulted. Things might be repaired, but it would be more Band-Aids; mold could be treated, but there is no guarantee it wouldn’t return. Even with modern products and knowledge it would still be a 140-year-old building with many structural problems.

After much research, soul searching, anguish and more than a few tears, we made the impossibly difficult decision to take the building down and rebuild, hopefully beginning next spring. Our current plan is to save as many elements of the current building as possible to be incorporated in to the new structure.

My husband and I will continue to research the history of the building, and the Facebook page, created to chronicle the repairs of the building, will now track our new journey.

— Special to the Telegram


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