New Plan for Old Home: Proposal Would Change Lebanon House Into Apartments

Lebanon When Dana Seguin bought 4 South Park St., he wasnt sure what he was going to do with the 5,500-square-foot, historic 19th century home facing Colburn Park in the citys center, but he was clear that it should be lived in, he said.

Now, a year and a half after Seguin took ownership, Lebanons Zoning Board of Adjustment is considering his 41-page application for a zoning variance that would allow him to convert the single family home, office and nearby carriage house into eight apartments. The house is located in a zoning district where multi-family homes are not allowed.

It needs a ton of work, but its sound, said Seguin during a tour of his mostly unheated historic home on Sunday. For whatever reason, it called me.

He said he plans to keep the homes four fireplaces as decorative, not functional, touches and that he hopes to retain most of the buildings hardwood floors. In addition, the structures slate roofs will likely stay as they are relatively new, having been replaced following a 1988 chimney fire.

In order to transform the homes large living spaces into 700 or 750-square-foot apartments, Seguin will need to move walls and reorient stairs, he said.

The renovation, if approved, will likely include replacement of all the single-paned windows, and upgrades to the plumbing, wiring and heating.

Residential use is an idea supported by the homes previous owner Lois Wood widow of Lebanon legend Dr. Myric Wood Jr. who died in 2006 at the age of 79 from prostate cancer.

Im very pleased with Danas plans for the house, said Mrs. Wood in a phone interview from her home in Hampden, Maine. I want the next chapter to be a good one.

The Woods lived and worked in the South Park Street house for approximately 50 years from 1962 to 2008.

They raised four children in the main house, while Dr. Wood, famous in part for delivering 2,500 Upper Valley babies, operated a medical practice from an office, a laboratory and two exam rooms located in an ell-shaped adjoining structure in the rear.

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New Plan for Old Home: Proposal Would Change Lebanon House Into Apartments