Lowell Mason House Finally Lowered on Foundation

After five months and two days, the Lowell Mason House was lowered onto its new foundation at 59 Green St. Wedensday. 

Without all the fanfare and public , this mission was low-key, but involved precision and accuracy. What looked to be a simple task took over five hours to accomplish. 

In April, it was a rainy, chilly day when the house was moved from Adams Street to Green Street and it took over 11 hours to get it placed above its new foundation.

Today, the house was lowered approximately 12 inches onto the foundation; that process went quickly, but once lowered it had to be secured and the large I-beams removed.   

Cheryl O’Malley, Vice President of the Lowell Mason Foundation and project manager of the house move and restoration, was there through it all. 

She was excited for the next step of this project and spoke highly of Stan’s Granite State Building Movers. Stan Wildes recalled the April move and said the reason the move took so many hours was the large number of wires they had to deal with. 

On Wednesday, his son-in-law, Dan Gilbert, was working under the house to make sure everything was set for lowering the carrying beam. 

Dan Bibel, a Lowell Mason board member, explained what had been done to the house since its arrival on Green Street. 

“The outside has had some of the vinyl siding removed and the inside has been cleaned up some," he said. "The next step is to button-up the foundation, secure it and make it weather tight. This is a multi-year process and we just have to do things in the right order.” 

Both O’Malley and Bibel said the Town of Medfield will be putting in water and sewer lines as well as doing a bit of landscaping around the house before winter. They were quick to point out that neither could be done until the house was lowered. 

O’Malley said “because of preservation issues," each step goes a little slower than usual. 

"We must keep an eye on preserving history,” O'Malley said.

Russ Hallisey, newly elected President of the Lowell Mason Foundation, pointed out they have had many knowledgeable consultants for each step involved in the move and the preservation of the house. They have had input from a preservation architect, structural engineers as well as builders. Hallisey cited a volunteer list, the Friends of the Lowell Mason House, which will be a great resource for them in regard to the cosmetic work necessary but much of the work ahead takes funding and as no structural or historical work will be done by this group and they are hopeful the residents of Medfield will continue to support this effort. 

For more information log onto www.lowellmasonhouse.com. Donations may be sent to The Lowell Mason Foundation, P.O. Box 913, Medfield, MA 02052.