NORWAY — The owners of the former Advertiser Democrat building at 1 Pikes Hill Road have the discretion to tear down two dilapidated sections of the structure, according to a staff member with the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.
The plan for demolition, first proposed at a Norway Planning Board meeting in December, would remove a section of the complex designated by the National Register of Historic Places as a “contributing building” in the Norway Historic District.
“Private property owners are free to alter their National Register listed property without the Commission’s approval, provided that no Federal license, permit, or funding or some instances of state permitting are involved,” Michael Goebel-Bain, the MHPC’s historic preservation coordinator, focusing on the National Register of Historic Places, architectural surveys and technical assistance, wrote in an email.
He also noted that municipalities have broad discretion in how they protect historic buildings and places. He wrote that the commission hopes any changes would not “endanger a property’s listing in the Register by compromising its integrity or significance.”
“Municipalities have a great deal of latitude in how they may implement legislation for the protection of cultural resources,” Goebel-Bain wrote. “A local historic preservation ordinance may require review beyond what federal and state regulations require.”
There are 64 contributing buildings and eight noncontributing buildings in the Norway Historic District, which includes properties on Main, Whitman, Bridge, Deering and Cottage streets.
According to the 1988 application for designation to the National Register of Historic Places, the “Norway Historic District embraces the most architecturally and historically significant group of buildings in this centrally located Oxford County community. Comprised of a wide variety of commercial, fraternal, governmental, public, religious and residential structures whose dates of construction span the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the district presents a remarkably detailed image of Norway’s growth and development.”
The application also notes that “from its otherwise humble beginnings in the 1780s, Norway grew into an important commercial and manufacturing center during the nineteenth century. The prosperity enjoyed by its residents is abundantly evident in the collection of surviving buildings which bear testimony to their cultural, economic and social achievements.”
Some of the district’s buildings include the James O. Crooker House on Deering Street; the Evans‑Cummings House, Dr. Augustus French House, Opera Block and Hathway Block on Main Street; and the Norway Baptist Church on Cottage Street.
The code enforcement officer for Norway did not respond to an email seeking information about the town’s ordinances or policies on demolishing historic buildings.
Goebel‑Bain noted that the one‑story brick addition to the building is not part of the downtown Norway Historic District. At the Planning Board meeting in December, building owner Todd Truman said there were no plans to tear down that section, which houses a gym.
In December, Truman said the white buildings posed a severe fire risk and that he had dealt with squatters and break‑ins there.
Norway interim Town Manager and Police Chief Jeffery Campbell said the Police Department had responded to the property multiple times and had even seen people jumping out of windows as officers arrived.
Sue Denison, curator of the Norway Museum & Historical Society, said the building was constructed as a two‑story structure around 1848, initially housing a shoe store with the Masonic Hall on the second floor. It later became the first location of Norway Savings Bank when the bank was founded in 1866.
The Patrons of Husbandry, also known as the Norway Grange, bought the building in 1877 and added a third story for their hall. The Grange vacated the premises in 1909 after building a new hall just up Whitman Street.
“Since the 1880s, the corner building was the office and printing plant of the Norway (sometimes Oxford County) Advertiser and from 1933, it housed the offices and press of the Advertiser Democrat, the newspaper that resulted from the merger of the Norway Advertiser and the Oxford Democrat of Paris,” Denison wrote in an email. “Over time, the newspaper operation gradually expanded into both Grange buildings, where it remained until a few years ago.”
A public hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Town Office is the next step in determining the building’s fate.
