Owner of Framingham's historic Hemenway House has plan to maintain 1741 structure

FRAMINGHAM — The owner of the historic John Hemenway House recently appeared before a joint meeting of the the city Historical Commission and Historic District Commission , floating a plan to convert it into a multifamily property while assuring members he was aware the dilapidated structure needs attention.

Fred Lavitman, who owns Landmark Roofing on Morton Street , purchased the nearly 300-year-old home on 613 Pleasant St. for $172,000 in 2019. He said during the April 10 meeting that he knows something needs to be done with the property, noting that he lives nearby.

“I’m not sitting on this just to be a thorn in everyone’s side," Lavitman said. "I do drive by this building every day, several times a day, I live a couple of blocks away. I’m very well aware of what it looks like and what kind of condition it is in."

Earlier: Framingham considers options as nearly 300-year-old historic home falls into disrepair

He said that following his purchase of the property, he was hit with rapidly escalating construction costs, which came in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The cost of everything skyrocketed," Lavitman said. "I own a contracting business. I was busier than busier could be, so it has been sitting idle."

Property subdivided in 2018, new large home was added

The property has a complicated recent history, dating to 2018 when the home was set to be demolished. To avoid demolition, the city reached an agreement with its then-owner to subdivide the property, allowing for a large new home to be constructed near the historic house, on the condition the historic home remained intact.

However, while a new home was built, the historic home was then sold to Lavitman and has remained largely untouched.

"We let them build this McMansion and in exchange it would allow this historic home, that is part of the fabric of Framingham, to be preserved," District 3 City Councilor Adam Steiner told the Daily News in an interview last fall. "Instead, we now have the McMansion and it seems like the historic home is being allowed to decay to the point where it is just going to fall down."

But Lavitman said during the April 10 joint meeting that he has been working to secure the home's structural integrity and sealing off entrances to avoid further vandalism at the site.

Plan to add units to home floated to commission

Lavitman told the two boards he wanted to ensure that some of his proposed ideas to make the project more financially viable would be permissible.

One proposal would be to add two additional units, making the Hemenway House into a multifamily unit. Lavitman said space for the new units could be created by demolishing the garage and horse barn that are attached to the main house, noting they were constructed in the 1950s and don’t contain any historic value.

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“That is a plan with the existing house with the original build,” he said. “The garage and the horse barn were built in the 1950s, and although they look nice, as far as historic goes, I don’t think they should be considered historic because they're not.”

Lavitman said he's committed to making sure that any addition to the home would be done in the same design as the original structure, so it would look historically accurate.

“The goal is to try to not change the look or remove historically significant structures, or how they appear in public view," he said. "I have no problem doing what is necessary to continue that. I’m not going to make it look like this strange thing that had an extra home slapped on just to gain some square footage."

Historic Commission expresses optimism for plan

During the meeting, Lavitman displayed some crude sketches, adding that he would be fine going forward with adding just one additional unit. He said he would return with more professional sketches to give commissioners a better model of his plans.

While Lavitman would need approval from the Planning Board to go forward, Historic Commission members expressed enthusiasm for preserving the Hemenway House.

“As far as the Historical Commission is concerned, we're really just concerned with the preservation of the original home — that is where our interests begin and end," commission member Kevin Swope said. "We would definitely be in favor of anything that moves forward with the preservation of the historic home. We're in favor of anything that preserves the historic structure.”

Lavitman added that he has no plans to demolish the property.

“Not even being considered as a potential option,” he said.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Owner of Framingham's historic Hemenway House has plan to maintain 1741 structure