Lowell Mason House Restoration Advances

Editor's note: The following article was written by David Temple.

In the six months since the , progress of its restoration has continued, even if not all is visible.   

The Lowell Mason Foundation (LMF) has raised close to $120,000. The most recent gift was $10,000 from the . Much more is needed and fundraising efforts are being ramped up. The mid-18th century house is being cleaned up – it looks somewhat better and smells a lot better, but much work remains to be done. The basement needs to be insulated, and the rotten sills and leaking roof urgently need professional help.

LMF Board Member and Green Street resident, Dan Bibel, has been leading the volunteer team of Harry Pritoni, who built the stairs and fixed many of the windows, Steve Cattanese, Blanchard Warren and Cheryl O’Malley, who served as project manager for stabilizing the house. The Medfield Highway Department has also helped around the foundation.

They have cleaned the inside and removed the linoleum that covered much of the first floor and trapped the animal odors that pervaded the interior despite months of airing out. 

The volunteers’ most visible work has been stripping most of the vinyl siding that was installed some 40 years ago. This produces two benefits:

1. The once-new vinyl siding has become faded and cracked to the extent that the old wooden shingles underneath look better than the siding.
2. In order to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, the vinyl must go. Without NRHP eligibility, there are far fewer opportunities to secure grant money to help with the project.

These are small steps toward turning Lowell Mason’s birthplace into the education and performance center and museum envisioned by the LMF to honor Mason, who almost two centuries ago, overcame hostility and indifference to create and teach the curriculum that is the basis of today’s American public school music education.

His house was saved and moved at substantial cost to 59 Green St., appropriately near Lowell Mason Road, last spring. Despite raising $120,000 so far, the LMF needs much more money to go further in restoration efforts.

Right now, the first priorities are to fix the roof and to replace the rotted sills that sit on the foundation and support the structure. Once the house is stabilized, the following projects await:

• Update or replace the HVAC, wiring, and plumbing
• Restore the windows and doors, and if needed, install historically-appropriate replacements
• Restore and refinish the exterior and interior to adapt it for use as office and museum space
• Add an outdoor patio/performance area

The LMF is using some of the limited funds on the professional services of an architect and structural engineer. LMF has been researching possible government and foundation grants. So far, it appears most, if not all potential grants will be matching and the LMF must continue to show there’s good public support before grant-makers will step forward.

Timeline for the Lowell Mason and his house

• c. 1750 - House is built on North Street, near Dale Street, partly from timbers from 1650.
• 1792 – Lowell Mason is born.
• 1808-12 – Mason serves as choir director at First Parish Church, Medfield.
• 1822 – First edition of Mason’s hymnal is published.
• 1827-32 – Mason serves as president of Handel and Haydn Society, Boston.
• 1833 – Mason co-founds Boston Academy of Music.
• 1837 – Mason becomes America’s first public school music teacher.
• 1855 – Mason is awarded America’s first honorary doctor of music degree at New York University.
• 1872 – Mason dies in Orange, N.J.
• 2009 – Mason house is sold to developer who plans to demolish it and build two-family home.
• 2010, March – 75 people protest at demolition hearing; Medfield Historical Commission imposes one-year delay on demolition.
• 2010, March – Lowell Mason Foundation, a 501 (c) (3), is established to save house and create museum and education center; fundraising begins.
• 2011, April – Mason house is moved from 25 Adams St. to 59 Green St.

About LMF:

The president of the LMF is Russell Hallisey. The other officers are Cheryl O’Malley, vice president; James Munz, treasurer; and Thomas Scotti, secretary.  Other board members include Rick Abecunas, Paul Alberta, Daniel Bibel, Robert Luttman, Timothy McGee, Thomas Reynolds, David Temple, Ray Totaro and Blanchard Warren.

Honorary board members are:

• Frank Battisti, conductor emeritus at the New England Conservatory of Music
• Col. Michael Colburn, conductor of “the President’s Own” United States Marine Corp Band;
• Dr. Richard Colwell, professor emeritus of Music Education at the University of Illinois;
• Dr. Willie Hill, director of the Fine Arts Center at UMass-Amherst.
• John Kuhner, president of the eastern division of MENC, the National Association for Music Education.
• Edward Lisk, a director of the Midwest Clinic.
• Caleb Mason, great-great-great grandson of Lowell Mason.
• Dr. William McManus, retired chair of the Department of Music Education, part of the Boston University School of Music.