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IN RESTORING THE HISTORIC WILDER BLOCK BUILDING IN
BRATTLEBORO, TRUMBULL-NELSON HELPS THE TOWN STAY
CONNECTED TO ITS PAST.
By bruce wood
photos by rich frutchey and steve usle
The horrific fire that engulfed the
Wilder Block building on the southern tip of the
Brattleboro shopping district in 2004 destroyed the
top two floors of the historic brick building and
severely damaged the other two. It was a sad loss
for the town.
“It’s a signature building for Brattleboro,” said
architect Staley McDermet of Williams & Frehsee,
Inc. “Architecturally and locationwise, you come
across the bridge from New Hampshire and bang, it’s
right there. It’s really a portal to the city. You
come into downtown on Canal Street and it’s the
first thing you see.”
What visitors and horrified townspeople saw in the
aftermath of the fire wasn’t testament to the
quality craftsmanship of the nineteenth-century
builders, but a charred and unstable brick building
whose flat roof had collapsed and whose future as an
anchor of the southern Vermont town was in serious
doubt.
Erected in 1875, the Wilder Block building had been
a marvel of the day with its cast-iron and granite
corner pilasters, ornate metal cornice, colorful
ribbon of tiles between the third and fourth floors,
and enormous plate-glass windows. The Wilder Block
building hosted a variety of businesses over the
years, including a furniture shop, an upholstery
shop, a photographer—and even an undertaker. In the
early 1900s the top two floors were converted into
apartments.
The building housed a photo shop and music store and
was home to ten people in seven apartments when the
first alarm reached the Brattleboro fire department
at 6 a.m. on the morning of December 4, 2004.
Although the fire was declared under control by 10
a.m., it wasn’t declared extinguished until
midnight. The damage was extensive.
“At first it was unclear if the top two floors could
be saved,” explained Connie Snow, of the Brattleboro
Area Community Land Trust (BACLT). “There’s a
building across the street that was once a
four-story building that is now just one or two.
Once something like that is demolished you never get
it back.”
Walk through the building now, and you would never
know there had been a fire.
That’s why a wide-ranging group of concerned
individuals and organizations banded together soon
after the Wilder Block building burned to see if
there was any way to preserve the old building for
future generations.
“There was a lot of interest right off the bat,”
said Snow. “I really credit the town officials and
fire department. Not only did the fire department
save what was left, but they worked with us in
brainstorming ways to save the top two floors. The
mayor of Brattleboro and Paul Bruhn, from the
Preservation Trust of Vermont, convened a group
within days of the fire. Engineering reports were
ordered, and a decision was reached that the top two
floors did not have to be demolished.”
The process of stabilizing the top two floors began
in concert with the search for an owner with the
financial means to pay for a full restoration of the
building.
“Fairly quickly we determined that the BACLT might
have the best chance of raising the funds to do it,”
said Snow. “We develop affordable housing with a
variety of grants, loans, and tax credits. Typically
we raise our funds and then buy a building. In this
case, because of the need to move forward with
stabilization quickly, we were going to have to buy
the building first and figure out how to fund it
second. That made our board a little nervous, so we
partnered with a group in Burlington called Housing
Vermont.
“We had to raise several hundred thousand dollars
for (the stabilization) and then put our plans
together for the ultimate restoration and fundraise
for that.”
By late February 2005, less than three months after
the fire, BACLT closed on the building. Williams &
Frehsee, Inc., was brought on to work up the plans
for the restoration and Trumbull-Nelson was hired as
general contractor.
“The biggest challenge was trying to repair and
match the many historical components that were
unique to the building,” explained McDermet, the
architect for the project. “That’s always very
difficult. As a preservationist, there are some
compromises you have to make that you really don’t
want to have to make. For example, we had to take
the entire metal ceiling down and then firecode
behind it and put it back up.”
The architect gives credit to the workmen on the
project, headed by Roger White, Site Superintendent
for Trumbull-Nelson. “He was just incredible, one of
the big reasons why it turned out so well,” said
McDermet. “And they picked very good subcontractors.
This was one of the best projects I’ve worked on in
terms of the craftsmanship of the masons. I can’t
say enough about them. Something like this is a
juggling act between the old and the new but I would
say the building is going back into much better
shape than it was in before.”
David Harrison served as Project Manager for
Trumbull-Nelson on the Wilder Block building. “It
was a big job but we’ve done a lot of rehab work on
buildings,” he said. “This one was pretty much a
full gut between the fire damage and the water
damage. The building was vacant for almost a year.
When we came in the plaster was all mildewed and
there was mold all over the place. It was in pretty
rough shape.”
Walk through the building now,
and you would never know there had been a fire.
The top two floors house eight airy one-bedroom
apartments with towering ceilings and seven-foot
windows, some with views of the Connecticut River.
All are accessible by an elevator installed after
the fire.
“We have a range of affordability,” explained Snow.
“A couple have Section Eight certificates attached
so the tenants can live in the units and just pay 30
percent of their income toward rent. Others have set
rents, but are targeted to various income levels.
All are affordable.”
The second floor will house the River Gallery Art
School, while the first floor will be home to a fine
wine shop and wine bar.
While the top two floors feature new construction
inside, the first two floors have been lovingly
restored from ceiling to floor. “It was important to
historic preservation that the center circulation
corridor be preserved,” said Snow. “That has all the
tin ceilings and the doors with the transom windows
off the hallways.”
The exterior of the old building is now freed from
the cocoon of scaffolds that encased it for the
better part of a year. It is again true to its
historic roots, right down to the decorative metal
cornice, the strip of tiles David Harrison located
in South America, and the carefully repaired brick
front.
“To me there’s tremendous satisfaction and I think
the same would go for the Brattleboro Area Community
Land Trust,” said Harrison of the restored Wilder
Block building. “That’s the reason they pulled the
money together to save the place. Seeing how this
turned out just strengthens my respect for and
interest in old buildings. I’m a firm believer in
renovating and restoring whenever possible. It’s so
different from the big box culture of strip malls.
“Buildings like this will last a long time.” |
