Parker J. Noyes Redevelopment Supports Lancaster’s Expanding Vitality
Three preservation projects – each located in communities suffering from the decline in the forest products industry – are moving forward this spring thanks to grant funds awarded by the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance. The projects in Alstead, Lancaster and Colebrook each showcase the important synergies between historic preservation, economic development and community revitalization. The N.H. Preservation Alliance joined with its counterparts in Vermont, Maine and New York to create the Northeast Heritage Economy Program for historic properties in need of reinvestment, funded by the Northern Border Regional Commission.
Parker J. Noyes Redevelopment Supports Lancaster’s Vitality
The Parker J. Noyes Building on Lancaster’s busy Main Street is the three-story commercial block currently painted green at left center.
In 2018, the Northern Forest Center purchased the Parker J. Noyes Building, a prominent although vacant landmark on Lancaster’s Main Street, because of its potential to contribute to ongoing efforts by business owners, local advocates and the town to revitalize the downtown by encouraging reinvestment in its historic buildings. The transformation of the Noyes Building will create comfortable downtown living spaces for residents and new commercial spaces where small businesses can thrive.
The property, which is listed on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, was once home to the Parker J. Noyes Company, named for the Lancaster pharmacist and inventor whose inventions included the sugar-coated pill and whose company developed the first precision food pellet for laboratory animal use.
“Our donors and investors want their money to leverage new energy and vibrancy in Lancaster’s downtown. We’ve seen how quality redevelopment of important buildings can help communities turn a corner and how one project quickly leads to other enhancements.”
-Rob Riley, president of the Northern Forest Center
The project will achieve several local goals by encouraging downtown living, the local food movement, community investment, historic preservation, renewable energy, the use of local contractors to keep wages in the community.
The first floor storefront as seen from inside the Parker J. Noyes building.
The renovated first floor will provide a new home for Lancaster's Root Seller Marketplace, a market that provides access to healthy local foods for the greater community. The Root Seller is a program of the nonprofit Taproot Farm & Environmental Education Center, which plans to establish a commercial kitchen in its new space.
The upper floors will be remodeled to create six downtown apartments that should be attractive to professionals and young families. These apartments will help position Lancaster as a hub for growth in the North Country and as a place that will attract and retain the next generation of families and leaders committed to creating a vibrant future for the town.
“This grant is making a major contribution to the extensive renovation of the Parker J. Noyes building, and it comes at a time when good news is especially welcome. We’re eager to put this funding to work in the local economy for construction and materials, and for the economic benefits the fully restored Noyes Building will bring to Lancaster in the long run. We’re very grateful to the NH Preservation Alliance and the Northern Border Regional Commission for their support.”
- Project Manager, Julie Renaud Evans
In 2017, the N.H. Preservation Alliance’s Seven to Save program recognized the Parker J. Noyes Building as an endangered historic building that deserved recognition and support. The current project will successfully remove the building from the Seven to Save list! For more detailed information, visit https://nhpreservation.org/seven-to-save and https://nfcenter.org/Redevelopment.
To read more about the Northern Border Regional Commission grants, click here.