Newest Seven to Save Features Diverse Threatened Places

The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance has announced its 2018 Seven to Save list today, featuring the Ruggles 236-acre mica mine in Grafton, the 250-acre Laconia State School campus, a dam of a water-power system at Canterbury Shaker Village and the enormous exhibition barn at the Rochester Fairgrounds. Also on the list highlighting endangered historic landscapes as well as iconic structures is a home dating from the 18th and 19th century that stretches along the common at Haverhill Corner, an Italianate parsonage in Lee and a Prairie-style residence built for the Director of the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Manchester. Watch for stories of the seven that will be unveiled in the coming days. Short descriptions here.

“These places makes our state distinctive, and help connect us to our rich and complex history,” said Jennifer Goodman, executive director of the Preservation Alliance. “The need for new investment and creative re-uses as well as deterioration and demolition are varied threats to the historic properties on this list. Here are seven great opportunities to transform threatened resources into vibrant assets once again that help meet community and economic goals.”  She noted that the list is the most diverse in the program’s 12-year history, and many of the listees are not yet well-known or understood, even in their own communities. Photos below, scroll to right: one of a campus of National-Register eligible buildings on the former Laconia State School campus, the Director’s House at the Manchester VA Hospital, former parsonage in Lee, exhibit hall barn at the Rochester Fairgrounds, Ruggles Mine, Turning Mill Pond at Canterbury Shaker Village, and the Col. Brown House in Haverhill Corner.

The list was announced at a N.H. Preservation Alliance event celebrating the rehabilitation of Washington’s iconic 1787 Meetinghouse (which was listed to Seven to Save when future was uncertain in 2014).

“This iconic New England village is a fitting place to hold an event that showcases irreplaceable landmarks, power of people who love and champion special places, and the social and economic benefits of historic preservation activity,” according to Andrew Cushing, Field Service Representative at the Preservation Alliance. “These positive themes need to be front and center as we address the enormous challenges ahead.”

Additional Washington sites featured at the announcement included the 1881 Shedd Free Library, Gibson Pewter, Washington Meetinghouse, and the Historical Society barn, which won a Preservation Achievement Award in 2006.  

Seven to Save listing has helped to attract new investment and re-use options for over 50% of the community landmarks that have received the designation since the program began in 2006.  Criteria for Seven to Save include the property’s historical or architectural significance, severity of the current threat, and the extent to which the Seven to Save listing would help in preserving the property.  Typically, nominated properties are owned by non-profits, municipalities or commercial entities, and have local advocates willing to work toward a creative “save” rather than allowing continued deterioration and possible demolition. 

Seven to Save attracts attention to threats and helps forge possible solutions for endangered properties.  Examples of successes include the Wolfeboro Town Hall, Charlestown Town Hall, Kensington Town Hall, Pickering House in Wolfeboro, Watson Academy in Epping, the Pandora Mill in Manchester, Littleton Community Center, and the Langdon Meetinghouse.  Seven to Save sites that still need more creative planning, new investment, and advocacy include the Balsams in Dixville Notch, Concord’s iconic Gas Holder House, the Chandler House in Manchester, Sanborn Seminary in Kingston, and the former Brown Paper Company’s R & D building in Berlin.

Seven to Save’s sponsors for 2018 include the Pinnacle Leadership Foundation, Chinburg Builders, Christopher P. Williams Architects, Levasseur Electrical Contractors, Inc., Milestone Engineering & Construction, Nathan Wechsler & Co., The MacMillin Company, and North Branch Construction. Also Ciborowski Associates , CMK Architects, Cobb Hill Construction, Dennis Mires, P.A. The Architects, Historic Sashworks, Misiaszek Turpin, Norton Asset Management, Steppingstone Masonry, Udelsman Associates  and Windows & Doors by Brownell.