The Select Board voted in favor of allocating $30,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funds to go toward preserving the General Glover Farmhouse.
The amount would allow the town to have a historic preservation firm prepare bid documents for a request for proposal. The Board’s motion passed 3-1, with member Katie Phelan voting not in favor and member Peter Spellios having departed from the meeting before the agenda item was discussed Wednesday night. Phelan’s reluctance stemmed from her feeling as though there was not yet a clear plan on how the house was going to be preserved and where it would be placed if relocated.
“I just don’t know if I have enough detail here to understand what that money exactly will get us from a historic conservation position post-spent,” Phelan said. “We don’t have a plan, and this is a ‘chicken-egg’ situation.”
Member Doug Thompson, who has been a liaison to the Save the Glover effort, conceded that the plan is not fortified. However, he said that it is not unprecedented when it comes to raising money to save historic sites.
“We don’t have a definitive plan exactly where it’s going,” Thompson said. “It has played out many other times. It’s not like we’re making this up for the first time. But yes, it’s not like we know exactly where this house is going and that we have all the money, and $30,000 is the end of it.”
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald emphasized that he believes preserving the house is significant to Swampscott’s identity.
“It’s a project of national significance, I can’t underscore how important this property is,” Fitzgerald said. “To have a property where every child in this community can go in and just see elements of our colonial history… it’s as important as Salem’s, as important as Newburyport, as important as Gloucester’s.”
A demolition request was sent and approved by both Marblehead and Swampscott earlier this year to replace the house once owned by the Revolutionary War figure with a new 140-unit housing complex called “Glover Residences.” Swampscott Historical Commission Chair Nancy Schultz was then notified due to the property’s historical background. The Commission was able to impose a nine-month demolition delay in April 2023. The delay was scheduled to expire in January. However, a recent agreement between the town and property developer Leggat McCall was reached in which Leggat McCall guaranteed they would not do any work on the property until June 30, allowing Schultz and her peers to seek the community’s financial assistance to help maximize the chance of the home being preserved properly.
Schultz and her peers have held two fundraisers thus far, with the next one scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 20, at The Landing Restaurant.
