Restoration
weddings and parties.
“The Historical Society is only going to take up about one quarter of the space,” said Weishan, who hosted the public television series “The Victory Garden,” from 2001 to 2007 and has authored two books about Southborough. “The rest of the space can be dedicated toward not only history but humanity and the arts. We need an active center for the arts.”
He said the entire second floor, the original dance hall, contains about 1,400 square feet with 20-foot-high ceilings.
“It can be used for weddings, showers, public meetings and lecture series,” Weishan said. “There is a separate small catering kitchen that can be used there. The whole basement is a gigantic classroom space, where we will have a very active programing for arts, drawing, tap dancing – you name it, we have every type of activity interested in it. This is going to be a history and art space.”
The building had been owned by the town but was sold to a private owner, Jon Delli Priscoli. He sold the building to the Southborough Historical Society for a modest $100 in 2022. The society then began work on restoring the decaying building for new use.
Project funded by sale of copy of Declaration of Independence
The project, which Weishan said has cost well over $1 million, was funded by the sale of a copy of the Declaration of Independence, which the society had possessed for generations.
“We had a copy, which was one of 32 copies that were handed out throughout Massachusetts,” he said. “When the Declaration of Independence was first made, a copy was made and sent to each capital of the 13 colonies, and a printed copy was disseminated to principal congregations of different towns, and Southborough was one of them. In my opinion, we have far more interesting documents, Indian treaties and things like that, certainly rarer documents. (But) The value of that particular document, this broadsheet copy, has skyrocketed in recent years.”
The copy was listed by Sothebys as being worth an estimated $1.5 million to $1.8 million, and was sold to a private bidder. The proceeds were put toward restoration of Fayville Village Hall and were needed, according to Weishan, due to additional challenges with restoring the building.
One of those challenges was that the Planning Board ruled that because the building was having its use changed, new applications and work would need to be done to reach new compliance levels – something Weishan said has cost hundreds of thousands of additional dollars.
“They decided that this was a change of use from an auction gallery and art house,” he said. “With the change of use, we had to resubmit our application, despite having an active building permit. We hired a counsel, we had to spend $65,000 to reengineer what had already been engineered and approved, and we went through this entire process again, which added probably $100,000 to $150,000 in funding that should have gone into the building.”
Planning Board chair says previous site plan approval had lapsed
Meme Luttrell, chair of the Southborough Planning Board, said the previous application that was filed with the town had lapsed by the time the Southborough Historical Society approached the town with its plans, and that forced the society to file a new application.
“The previous site plan approval lapsed in 2021; therefore, new site plan approval was required whether or not the use changed,” Luttrell told the Daily News. “In 2019, a site plan for an auction house, antique shop and fine art gallery was approved for that site, which lapsed in 2021.”
Unexpected expenses, such as the well being hit during excavation, have driven the cost of the project higher and delayed its expected 2023 opening, Weishan said. However, he said the society is on track to open the building later this year and is excited to bring it back as a community center.
“The truth is, we could have demolished the building and built a duplicate at the same site for a fraction of the cost,” Weishan said.
“However, now we have the same property, but it is built to last another 100 years. It’s got a new foundation, proper insulation, we have solar power for the building. We are very excited to be able to bring this property to Southborough. It has been a very long, long road, but everyone we talk to in town can’t wait for this thing to open.”