Boston Globe July 7, 2001 (Thanks Christine Hughes!)
Antique R.I. house free for the moving
New owner delays plan for demolition for auto repair shop
By Alice Giordano, Globe Correspondent, 7/7/2001
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. - Free to a good home: a gorgeous house.
When this coastal community, located adjacent to the tourist- and mansion- filled city of Newport and now famous as the home of former ''Survivor'' star Richard Hatch, recently rezoned one section to make way for a new downtown, it got what it had hoped for - commercial growth.
For a 1930 house with an antique appeal, however, that has been bad news. It is slated for demolition to make way for an auto repair shop.
When a resident, Gail Greenwood, learned of its fate a few months ago, she lobbied the owner for a delay so that she could search for someone who might fall enough in love with the house to move it.
Greenwood isn't a historian or real estate agent. She's a bass player in the popular Canadian rock band, Bif Naked.
It was during an early morning car ride to the airport for one of her tours that a bulldozer parked outside the house caught her eye.
''My heart just sank when I saw these giant bulldozers that had obviously been used to pull up the giant purple beeches that had for so long surrounded the house,'' said Greenwood, who grew up just down the road. ''That's the first sign there was something wrong.''
The Dutch Colonial had for several decades been home to generations of the Vanicek family, which owns and operates Rhode Island Nurseries, one of New England's largest growers of trees and plants.
Elaborately sculpted weeping birches and other rare trees that surrounded the property had always caught Greenwood's eye.
Some of the trees were uprooted and sold to an estate in Long Island, N.Y.
The house was next.
But few have the appeal of this red-shuttered, white farmhouse that even the new property owner says ''sort of tugs at your heart.''
''It reminds me of my grandmother's house,'' said Bruce Beard, who is building a 5,000-square-foot shop on the site.
The house has a giant snow-white and candy apple-striped pantry kitchen. There are also long halls interrupted by archways and latticed double doors, some outfitted with fancy glass doorknobs.
In the back is an inviting, all-season porch with a small, cozy fieldstone fireplace and a wall of windows that offer commanding views of Narragansett Bay and the acres of fields still owned by the Vaniceks.
Up an elegant staircase are five bedrooms, including the pink room, as labeled on the fusebox.
There is a three-car garage, heated and topped with a classic farmhouse weathervane.
In all, the two-story shingled house offers 3,860 square feet of living space, including a basement the Vaniceks finished to depict a log cabin.
It is here that the house's massive fieldstone chimney pours into a giant stone hearth.
Like most houses, its walls hold many tales.
Once, the Vaniceks tried to build a bowling alley in the basement. When that didn't work, they opted instead for a firing range.
Despite such nostalgia, however, any proposal to save the house by moving it onto the surrounding 71 acres of farmland the family still owns has been rebuffed.
Some people have offered to buy land from the family to relocate the house, but so far the Vaniceks have declined.
Greenwood has tried to interest many in the house, from a church to the local historical society.
The Rhode Island Housing Authority was interested, but decided against purchasing it for political reasons because ''people would think they were spending money lavishly,'' Greenwood said.
Most of the interest has come from young couples, who see a chance to own a dream home without the dream home price.
One man, who did not want to be identified, said he and his wife have tried to get financing to move the house, but so far the banks have turned them down.
Estimates to move the house have varied. A local company quoted a price of $250,000.
Ed Couturier, owner of Northeast Building Movers in North Hampton, N.H., the largest movers of buildings in New England, estimated moving costs would run between $30,000 and $50,000, plus utility set-up and site work at its new location.
Beard, who lives in Jamestown and met his wife in nearby Newport, says he, too, has some sentimental attachment to the house at 1180 West Main Road, and has vowed to give Greenwood at least a couple of months to find it a new home.
He also admits that he has an economic interest in seeing the house moved.
Beard, who paid $450,000 for the 1 acre of land it sits on, says it would take about $15,000 to demolish it.
This story ran on page 1 of the Boston Globe on 7/7/2001.
Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.