The fate of an 18th-century home tied to a Revolutionary War hero in Marblehead and the site of the former Glover Restaurant has taken another turn, as developers agreed to extend a demolition delay by five months to allow time to possibly relocate the historic structure.
Developer Leggat McCall Properties, planning to build a 140-unit condominium complex on the site spanning Marblehead, Swampscott and Salem, will pause their plans until June.
The additional five months come after an initial nine-month demolition delay ends in January. That gives preservation advocates time to raise funds and finalize plans to move what remains of Gen. John Glover’s former home.
“I think these places like the Glover Farmhouse, White Court (President Calvin Coolidge’s summer residence) have an incredible impact on current and future generations,” Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald told the Current. “It gives a sense of place. This is one of our nation’s most notable Revolutionary War heroes.”
The once grand Federal style farmhouse dates to 1732. In 1781, it was acquired by Glover, the Marblehead mariner known for commanding regiments of local fishermen, sailors and merchants who came to George Washington’s aide during crucial moments in the war.
A future, fully restored Glover farmhouse could tell those stories, many said.
Of Marblehead’s approximately 1,200 residents at the start of the war, nearly half enlisted in Glover’s regiment over the course of the Revolution. Hailing from diverse backgrounds, they represented the cosmopolitan nature of the bustling port community.
“They were Hispanic. They were black. They were brown,” Fitzgerald said.
Even as he expresses optimism about the future, Fitzgerald remains realistic.
“I do think we can salvage some of the important pieces of this historic property, but we are not going to be able to likely save the building,” Fitzgerald said of saving the long-abandoned property. “The fact is that building has been neglected for over 20 years.”
The Swampscott Historical Commission earlier this year voted to enact a demolition delay to explore preservation options.
For months, the Swampscott Historical Commission has been rallying public support to move the home. A fundraising website aims to raise thousands of dollars to procure its preservation, including disassembling and rebuilding it on a nearby lot. It would be similar to when the town moved the Pickering Wharf Storehouse to the Salem Maritime and Historic Site.
Larry Sands, a member of Marblehead’s Glover regiment, said the June cutoff provides critical time to find a location and new purpose for the house.
After extensive discussions about various preservation solutions, Sands said the primary goal that emerged was retaining the Glover house in its current location. However, further examination showed that preserving the house onsite would not be feasible for the construction project.
“So now we go to plan B, which is to find a new location and then move the house to that new location,” Sands said. “If moving it intact is not an option and if we can’t find a location in the right timing or can’t arrange the move, the third option would be to dismantle the house and store it while we finalize where it will ultimately end up.”
Edward Nilsson, an architect, a Planning Board member and member of the Marblehead Historical Commission, has worked on preserving the Glover Farmhouse alongside Sands and Swampscott Historical Commission’s chair, Nancy Schultz. He said that if the property’s true history had been fully explored earlier, a preservation effort may have commenced sooner.
“If we knew, then — when the Planning Board reviewed the project — what we know now, we would have had a very different outcome,” Nilsson said. “And we would have been much further along in a preservation effort.”
While Nilsson expressed reservations about developers’ willingness to preserve the Glover farmhouse in the current development plans, he said several alternative locations are under consideration — including a site across the street in Salem.
