BRUNSWICK

Bowdoin College is seeking to demolish a building it recently acquired at 15 Bath Road, in the Federal Street Historic District. Deferred maintenance, disuse and structural issues have made the old home economically unfeasible to restore.

According to Bowdoin College, the home was placed in the National Register of Historic Places inventory in 1976 as the Aaron Dunning House and is described as a Federal- Greek Revival style circa 1828 to 1846.

Aaron Dunning was apprenticed to Samuel Melcher III, who designed and built many homes in downtown Brunswick. Dunning designed and built a number of Brunswick homes himself in the 1800s, including his residence at 76 Federal St., where Nathaniel Hawthorne spent his junior year at Bowdoin College.

The building was condemned by the town in November 2015 and purchased by Bow- doin in May 2016. Following the purchase, Bowdoin had an environmental assessment and hazardous material inventory completed.

On June 7, a building evaluation report was completed by Becker Structural Engineers, deeming the building economically unsuitable for rehabilitation. Bowdoin then applied to the Brunswick Village Review Board for a Certificate of Appropriateness to have the building demolished.

Brunswick Director of Planning and Development Anna Breinich said Wednesday that when Bowdoin was asked if they were open to selling the site with the building for rehabilitation the answer was no.

According to the Brunswick Zoning Ordinance, prior to the issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness, the college must seek alternatives to demolition, including relocation of the house.

Bowdoin has since contacted the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, the Pejepscot Historical Society and Maine Preservation regarding its plans for demolition. The college has also reached out to perspective takers for building relocation.

In the meantime, Bowdoin has addressed town concerns for health and safety by having ServPro remove debris and disinfect the building as well as have Brunswick Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Emerson inspect the premises.

According to the Becker report, many parts of the building have begun to fail, including roof and floor framing, timber framing, sills and exterior sheathing, trim and siding.

Becker reported that the building’s value, compared with a $500,000 repair estimate, makes repairing it unreasonable.

The report also cast doubt regarding moving the structure in its current state, because it could cost as much as $200,000 to move the building.

The Becker report said in order to move the home, the building would have to be stabilized, trees along Bath Road would have to be removed and power lines and traffic signals would have to accommodate transporting.

The building, since inspection, has been marked by the Brunswick Fire Department as “unsafe for human occupancy or use.”

Once the building has been removed or demolished, Bowdoin College has no immediate plans to reconstruct on the site, but has announced intentions to landscape the property, retaining shade trees, leveling, seeding and mulching the area.

The lot will be utilized as a green space between two adjacent campus buildings, according to a Bowdoin communication to Maine Preservation.

• ACCORDING TO Bowdoin College, the home was placed in the National Register of Historic Places inventory in 1976 as the Aaron Dunning House and is described as a Federal-Greek Revival style circa 1828 to 1846.

• THE LOT will be utilized as a green space between two adjacent campus buildings, according to a Bowdoin communication to Maine Preservation.

dmcintire@timesrecord.com