Old Manchester House Coming Down, Piece By Piece

MANCHESTER

For the past several days, a crew has been stripping plaster and lath inside the John Olds house, revealing oak and chestnut framing and the enduring art of 18th-century craftsmen.

With its fluted pilasters, varying cornices and elegant fireplace mantels, the house is a statement and an investment by a citizen of the new Republic.

"You walk in there and you're impressed," says Steven Bielitz, an old-home restoration specialist overseeing deconstruction of the Tolland Turnpike house. "It was well-thought-out."

Bielitz, owner of The Glastonbury Restoration Co., has a permit to dismantle the home, which sits on property of TGM Associates, owner of the adjacent Waterford Commons apartment complex. TGM has wanted the vacant house gone for several years, to be replaced with a small park for apartment residents. Local preservationists and town leaders have delayed demolition, but their efforts to save the home in place have come to naught.

"We regret the fact that there was nobody in town, or the town itself was not interested in preserving this important historic house in Manchester," historical society President John Dormer said Wednesday.

Revolutionary War veteran John Olds built the house in the late 18th century, possibly in 1776, but Bielitz says more likely in the 1780s. The Yankee farmer is known as the father of Manchester for leading the movement to separate what was then known as Orford Parish from the town of East Hartford. He and other settlers succeeded, and Manchester was founded in 1823.

TGM Associates bought the property in June 2008 and announced plans later that year to tear down the farmhouse. Town leaders scrambled to save it, but rejected TGM's offer to sell the property for $500,000.

Bielitz said he has started advertising the house and hopes to get $120,000 for it. He and his crew are labeling each post and beam, mantel and moulding. The pieces will be loaded on trailers and carted away.

Bieliz said Wednesday that he hopes to finish the job by May 1. He said he would like to find a buyer in Connecticut, better yet in Hartford County. Dormer said he still hopes the home can be reconstructed somewhere in Manchester.

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Old Manchester House Coming Down, Piece By Piece