FREEPORT – The Freeport Historical Society is on board with a proposed historic renovation of the house where Maine legend Leon Leonwood Bean raised his family at 6 Holbrook St., and this week the Project Review Board gets a look at the plan.

L.L. Bean is using Malcolm Collins as the project architect to restore the Queen Anne Victorian home to its 1912 look – with its original brown tones and minus three additions. The building is now painted white.

The Project Review Board will begin a public hearing at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 9, to consider a design review certificate, which would allow for the exterior changes, and a site plan amendment to reduce the building’s footprint.

Caroline Pelletier, assistant to the town planner, said that the board will decide on Bean’s request for a waiver of a four-month waiting period on the site plan amendment.

“They would have to rule on the waiver first, and then on the approval,” said Pelletier, who was not sure if that would all be done on Wednesday night.

Christina White, executive director of the historical society, informed the Project Review Board in a letter that she had met with representatives of L.L. Bean and Collins to review the project.

“The commitment from the L.L. Bean company to the project is exciting and the proposed results will, no doubt, be welcomed by residents and visitors to Freeport,” White wrote. “We are pleased that the home of one of Freeport’s most notable citizens, Leon Leonwood Bean, will be preserved while expanding opportunities for the public to interact with the property via ‘side yard’ demonstrations, exhibit area, and a walking path – all which will add to the property’s enjoyment and our understanding of L.L. Bean himself and of his company.”

White added that, according to the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, the house was likely designed by Francis Fassett, a highly regarded Portland architect whose work can also be seen at other Freeport locations.

“There are a number of proposed exterior property changes with which we are in agreement, including the removal of a porch located on the right side of the house, adding back two chimneys (recreating the original profile), and returning to the original rich, period-defining exterior paint palette,” White continued. “The small porch (left side of main entrance to house) which was added sometime in the 1940s and served as L.L.’s smoking area, is slated to be taken down. Our hope was that this direct connection to the man himself would be retained. If the owner moves forward with the plan to remove the porch, we ask that the porch be fully documented prior to removal.”

Bean and his wife, Bertha, bought the home in the early 1900s, and raised their family there. Bean died in 1967, and the property was sold a year later. L.L. Bean reacquired it in 1987, and it has been mostly empty for the past 10 years, except for occasional use as temporary storage.

Ruth Porter, administrator for the Leon Bean Home and Archive Center, said that the plan is for the exterior work to be done this year.

“It will be different,” Porter said. “It will be different to glance over there. When it’s back to the colors of 1912, it will be very noticeable on Main Street.”

Porter said that Jim Gorman Jr. is the project manager, while company officials, including President Chris McCormick, are planning the restoration.

“Right now,” Porter said, “the only thing we’re looking at is to restore it. Eventually, it might be open to the public.”

Porter said that L.L. Bean’s grandson, Leon Bean, granddaughter Linda Bean and James Gorman Sr. visited the old home as children, but were quite young at the time. Linda Bean probably has the most recollection of the home, Porter said. Linda Bean did not return calls for comment before deadline.

The company decided to reacquire the property with its history in mind.

“One of the reasons that we bought it back was that it was such a large part of the family history of the company,” Porter said. “I proposed (restoration) in 2006, and we’ve put it back and forth on the plate ever since.”

Porter said she is unsure of the cost of the renovation.

Leon Leonwood Bean’s first wife Bertha is in the background, and her daughter, Barbara, stands in the foreground of the old family home on Holbrook Street in Freeport.  The Bean home today, re-acquired by L.L. Bean in 1987, has been mostly empty for the past 10 years.