Clock Is Ticking For Keene House - Editorial
In light of the Bourne Historical Commission’s most recent efforts to save the historic home at 9 Sandwich Road, we dove into the archives and dug back about 10 years, to when this saga regarding the future of the Perry-Ellis-Keene House all began. We went looking for answers and potential explanations as to how we wound up here, in 2023, with still no set plan for the preservation of this home, and the only conclusion that we were able to reach is this: the melee surrounding this home and its future is more complicated than any of us thought.
We reviewed a comprehensive 34-page history of the home, which delineates a rough timeline of its many owners and paints a small forest of family trees, some of which include Bourne’s biggest names that crisscross amongst each other, all with roots at 9 Sandwich Road.
We researched and analyzed articles from 2012, when voters allocated $250,000 at Town Meeting in November and authorized the town to purchase the property. This move was made in response to a citizen-petition request from Elizabeth Ellis, supported by other residents, which asked the town to purchase the property not just for historical preservation, but for “other municipal purposes.” Those “other purposes” would have been, unfortunately, a municipal parking lot at the back of the property.
Circa 2012, it appeared that the other available avenue for the Keene House was selling it to a private owner. That private owner was Vincent Michienzi, a contractor and business owner. The Keene House being in the hands of a professional contractor, who has the resources for upkeep and repairs, sounded like a good thing until we learned that he, too, wanted to use the property to provide parking for his neighboring business. Today, that parking lot does exist. It appears that Mr. Michienzie’s next ambition is to raze the structure and potentially build 40B housing, but details surrounding that potential plan are sparse.
Parking is great, but housing is better, and houses with historical value are best. But these types of homes are severely endangered in town and will continue to be without proper municipal intervention. The whole situation was and is reminiscent of the Joni Mitchell song, but never mind “paradise”—they paved part of history and put up a parking lot, and next will be the wrecking ball.
In a perfect world, the town would not have been outbid by Mr. Michienzi, could have purchased the Keene property, and spent the past 10 years working to restore and repair it. But instead, the home has sat idle, likely falling deeper and deeper into disrepair, as Mr. Michienzi has repeatedly stated before town boards as his reason for seeking to demolish it. But how far this disrepair and alleged rot has gone, we don’t know, as Mr. Michienzi has yet to comply with the commission’s request from March 2022 to have an inspection done and report back to members on the home’s condition.
Recently, historical commission chairman Carl Georgeson told us that he believed the ideal scenario would be the restoration of the house in its present location. The commission has sought out various means of preservation, including relocating the home and doing a land swap for the patch of land on which the home is built, but all of the options considered would require the cooperation of the current owner and financial support from the town.
In short, 10 years ago the town fumbled its opportunity to put historic preservation on its list of municipal priorities, but it is now faced with a second chance to do something to save the Keene House. After the sale to Mr. Michienzi in 2013, Ms. Ellis remained hopeful that discussions might continue, implying that an agreement could be met to please all involved parties. We hope that now, a decade later, this might still be true.
The clock is ticking for the Keene House—the demolition delay order will expire in May—and the time to act is now. The Keene House is one of just three remaining homes in town that predate the 1700s. We hope that the town does not let this property meet the wrecking ball, at least not without some final intervention in an effort to save it.
Various statements on the issue from 2012 argue this: “we need parking in that area.” Today, the argument might be “we need housing in that area.” Both are valid, and we agree, but would counter with this: we also need to preserve what’s left of the town’s history. There are hundreds of parking lots and parking spots in Bourne, and many sites on which a 40B development could be built with a far lesser impact on the town’s history. There is only one Keene House. And, like Joni Mitchell said, “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”