Nahant restoring three historic buildings

NAHANT – Restoration work is ongoing at several town-owned buildings.Town Meeting already approved $200,000 from the Community Preservation Act fund for repairs to Town Hall, the public library and Ellingwood Chapel.Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said the bulk of the work on all three historic buildings involves masonry restoration and waterproofing.”We’ve contracted with LAL Masonry from Saugus to do the work,” he said. “We’re having repointing, cleaning and waterproofing done on all three buildings.”The Nahant Town Hall, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1912 and was designed by Andrews, Jaques and Rantoul of Boston.Ellingwood Chapel, which is located on the grounds of Greenlawn Cemetery, was built in 1918-1919 from stone quarried from the cliffs behind what is now the Spindrift. The chapel, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is furnished with handcrafted pews and stained-glass windows from the Connick Studios.Cullinan said the repointing is necessary to keep water from seeping into the buildings, which could lead to even more damage.The Nahant Public Library was built in 1895 as a Town Hall and Librarian Daniel deStefano said a lot of masonry work needs to be done there as well. DeStefano said the masonry on the terrace would be repointed and the sandstone lintels around the windows and in the outside corners of the building need to be repaired.”All of the edging around the granite faces are sandstone,” he said. “The sandstone lintels have been eroded by wind and sand. In some areas it is literally crumbling when you touch it. There are places in the outside corners where wind and sand have chiseled gouges an inch deep into the sandstone blocks.”DeStefano said there is also some chimney repair work to be done, which he hopes will get underway next month.”I found a chunk of the top of the chimney in the bottom of the chimney,” he said. “We’re not sure what the chimney repairs will entail until we get a crew up there.”In addition to the masonry work, Cullinan said the exterior of Town Hall is in the process of being repainted and there is some carpentry work that needs to be done there as well.