The iconic 200-year-old building that houses the town’s historic society and museum needs numerous repairs that could cost up to $400,000 to protect it from threats from rising water levels and stronger storms caused by climate change.
The Old Berwick Historical Society has begun a long-range plan to preserve the Counting House Museum on Liberty Street, home to more than 10,000 historical records and artifacts, from anticipated water and storm damage, according to Harland Goodwin, museum property manager.
“The engineering and construction of the building far surpasses current building standards,” wrote Arron Sturgis, a preservation specialist with Preservation Timber Framing of Berwick, hired by the historical society to study the condition of the structure.
To protect it from damage from continued rising water levels and increasingly strong storms, Sturgis suggested repairs that would cost an estimated $352,000. He also recommended raising the building at an estimated cost of another $306,000.
The building is “faring better than its proximity to water would indicate, but we are fighting against the proverbial tide, both metaphorically and literally,” said Sturgis.
Goodwin, a historical society board member, recently met with Maine Historic Preservation officials to begin the process of seeking grants to help fund preservation of the Counting House, which originally housed the accounting office of the Portsmouth Manufacturing Co. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The first step will be dealing with water damage and the threat of water damage and making repairs to the building’s foundation, which together would cost about $67,000, according to Goodwin.
“It is still solid, but permeable,” he said, pointing to an area of foundation where the original mortar is softening.
Other items in Sturgis’s report, such as raising the building, will be addressed on a priority basis as funds become available, Goodwin said.
“Costs listed in the assessment are estimates, not actual costs, because you never know what exactly is needed till you start the work,” he noted.
Goodwin warned that foundation issues will worsen if the organization doesn’t act quickly.
“The next step will be to hire a drain expert and then find an engineering firm to help us develop the scope of work to be done before we can apply for a grant,” he said.
According to Sturgis’s report, the dam’s proximity to the building is a major issue.
“Outside the building, huge boulders supporting it on the dam side are exposed, heaving and becoming undermined by water,” he wrote. “The dam is so close to the building, there is constant spray and moisture.”
Water has been coming into the building since it was built, according to Goodwin, who noted there are “original copper gutters at the four corners of the building, but we don’t know where they drain to.”
The cellar of the Counting House has a concrete slab with gutter running the perimeter along all four walls that leads to a pipe that drains into the river. The gutter, designed to slowly drain away from the building interior, has become clogged.
Water is a now a constant presence, draining from an unknown location or locations, Goodwin said.
Other work recommended by Sturgis includes comprehensive repair of the building’s brick exterior, using a lime-based mortar to match the original existing mortar, at an estimated cost of $98,000.
Repairing and reglazing all 26 windows, adding storm windows, and painting the windows and exterior trim are estimated to cost an additional $144,100.
In his report Sturgis stressed the value of old mill buildings like the Counting House that still stand long after the collapse of the mill industry in New England. He called them “a testament to the best of what the mills and mill owners visualized for their communities.”
“The building sits on a full rubble (or uneven stone) and capstone foundation,” he wrote. “The brick walls are thick and the masonry is bold, energetic and beautiful … decorative cornice and rake on the exterior exhibits opulence and quality.”
