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“If you bulldoze your heritage, you become just anywhere.” Neighborhood Restoration Program A Long History of Neighborhood Revitalization WHALE’s Neighborhood Restoration Program is designed to look holistically at an entire neighborhood in New Bedford with a focus on restoration and revitalization. With strong support from New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang and New Bedford Economic Development Council, WHALE will initially be working with in the close knit Washington Square Neighborhood, full of historic and architecturally significant properties located on tree-lined streets. A Three Part Program: PART TWO: Award mini-grants of up to $10,000 through the Stoico/FIRSTFED Neighborhood Restoration Fund to homeowners residing in historic properties for the appropriate restoration of the exterior of their home. PART THREE: Select a preservation project in the neighborhood eliminating blight while creating desirable places to live in the heart of our city. Anticipated Outcomes of the Neighborhood Restoration Program: The Neighborhood Restoration Program has received widespread support from public and private entities including more than $80,000 in grants and $17,000 in private donations. This is great news for our program and the Washington Square neighborhood, but a lot of work and a whole lot more funds are needed to complete all three phases of our program. WHALE Gifts Akin House Back to Town of Dartmouth WHALE purchased the c. 1762 cape-style house in 2003 from distant relatives of the Akin family for $185,000. At that time, the house had been in the Akin Family for 234 years. Recognizing the historical and cultural importance of the property, the Town of Dartmouth voted funds from the Community Preservation Act at town meeting to reimburse WHALE for the purchase price. As a result, a preservation restriction was placed on the property that required WHALE to convey the property back to the Town of Dartmouth. “WHALE is proud to have saved the Akin House and taken on this challenging and rewarding conservation project,” said Peter Hawes, WHALE’s President of the Board. “We are confident that if WHALE did not purchase this abandoned house and property in 2003 with CPA funds,” continued Hawes, “the house would have been demolished if the property had been sold on the open market.” Hawes said that WHALE did what WHALE does best - saved an at-risk, historic property. WHALE is no stranger to impossible and impractical preservation projects “At WHALE, we are acutely aware of the importance of our history, character, heritage and culture,” noted Lisa Sughrue, WHALE Executive Director, “and know only too well that when it is gone, it is lost forever. As a result, we are committed to saving our historical treasures and building our future on the best of the past for ourselves, our children and the generations yet to come.” In 2005, WHALE began the daunting task of structurally stabilizing the Akin House and raising the funds necessary to complete this complex conservation project. Structural stabilization and weatherproofing the house involved the following: In total, WHALE has spent more than $385,000 on the purchase, maintenance, structural stabilization and weatherproofing of the Akin House. WHALE has raised nearly $362,000 in grants, donations and fundraisers. As a result, WHALE has contributed more than $23,000 of its own operating funds to cover costs associated with Akin. That doesn’t include thousands of hours of staff time and resources that were contributed to the project valued at more than $200,000. All funds raised for the Akin House were put in a dedicated account and used solely for the Akin House. WHALE did not retain any funds for administrative purposes. “WHALE has made a significant commitment to Akin and Dartmouth,” noted Jim Mathes, Chair of the Akin Working Group and WHALE Board Member. “This house, which is older than America, stands today because of WHALE.” The Akin Working Group was charged with negotiating the gift of the Akin House back to the Town of Dartmouth at the earliest possible date as required in the signed preservation restriction on the property. WHALE had to return the property back to the town by December 31, 2008. Today, the Akin House proudly stands, structurally stabilized and protected from the weather. “We are proud of the amazing conservation work that we have accomplished on this historic house,” noted Sughrue. “To bring this historic house from what it looked like when WHALE purchased the property to where it is now, is truly an amazing feat. One that we are extremely proud of.” She stressed that the Akin House project clearly exemplifies WHALE’s mission which is to promote the value and reuse of our historic resources through historic preservation, education, and advocacy. “We are proud to say that WHALE saved this little house,” continued Sughrue, “structurally stabilized it, and prepared it be brought into the next phase of conservation for its reuse as a Cultural Heritage Center.” Our Akin Committee, which includes 15 Dartmouth residents and abutters, believes that the Akin House should become a Cultural Heritage Center. Open to the public, it will tell the history of Dartmouth and its occupants as well as become a working classroom for construction styles and techniques. It will be one-of-a kind in our region and will be a tremendous educational resource. We intend to restore the house so that visitors will be able to visually see the changes the house has undergone. For example, in the south parlor, we will leave part of the ceiling with the original beams exposed (as it would have been built originally) and part of the ceiling paneled as it was when we purchased the house (the paneling was a later addition). The Cultural Heritage Center will be a great learning tool for local school children as well as architectural and historic preservation students. WHALE has raised nearly $120,000 toward the conservation of this house. Currently, the house has been structurally stabilized and exterior conservation is complete. Now, our efforts turn toward interior conservation of the Akin House as a Cultural Heritage Center. Estimates for this work are upwards of $150,000 so more funds need to be raised. WHALE is in the process of applying for specific grants that would fund the interior work as well as organize fundraisers with all funds going into a dedicated account for the Akin House conservation. Upon completion, WHALE will give the house back to the town. The Akin House is a great example that a historic home, even one that has been abandoned for years and in great disrepair, can be saved, restored and conserved. Adam Waring of Architectural Preservation Group (restoration contractors for the Akin House) said the Akin House “is as bad as it gets” and “is the worst we’ve ever worked on”. By taking on its restoration, WHALE hopes to build awareness that historically significant homes of all shapes, sizes and scales are worthy of saving and preserving. We hope to educate the general public that we shouldn’t discard these treasures and pieces of our past because they explain where we have been, where we came from and how we got to where we are now. We easily answer our critics when they ask “Why bother?” The answer is simple. We bother because we can, because it matters and once we lose a piece of our history, our character and ourselves, it is lost forever. And, we don’t want New Bedford and our surrounding communities to become “Just Anywhere”. WHALE has always prided itself on making impossible dreams come true and the Elihu Akin House is just one more in a long line of examples..
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