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By DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer Friday, June 29, 2007

The Gerald Hotel, built in 1900 on Main Street in heart of downtown Fairfield, is to be listed today by Maine Preservation as one of the state's most endangered historic properties.

The 2007 list of endangered properties is scheduled to be announced today during a press conference at the former Bates Mill in Lewiston.

Most recently the home of Northern Mattress & Furniture Co., which closed last year, the building is set to be auctioned to the highest bidder on July 12.

"Our mission is to raise awareness and to help people at the local level to find solutions to preserve historic properties and to help get the right people at the auction," Roxanne Eflin, executive director of Maine Preservation, said Thursday. "There are a number of historic, beautiful properties there -- it could be an awakening for Fairfield. We want to rally around the rehabilitation and re-use of the Gerald Hotel."

The Gerald Hotel was built by Amos F. Gerald, builder of the first electric train system in Maine and the first electric light plant in the state. It was an ornate building with terra cotta trimmings and figures in relief in the Renaissance style, according to a publication by the Fairfield Historical Society.

"This was a large brick building, four stories high with three golden domes on top, the center one rising by two stories to a proud Mercury, the God of Speed," resident Philip Bowker, a descendant of the hotel's last manager, N.T. Bowker, wrote for the town's 200th anniversary in 1988.

The endangered historic properties program began in 1996 for the purpose of raising public awareness of endangered and threatened buildings. Since then, 69 properties have been added to the list.

According to material from Maine Preservation, 22 of the properties have been saved from demolition and 30 more are in the process of being "rescued," Eflin said. Six properties on the original list have been lost to demolition.

Barbara Finch of Fairfield said she got the idea of calling groups including Maine Preservation when she saw the "for sale" sign go up after Northern Mattress closed.

She said it could be a perfect site for senior housing in Fairfield.

"Literally I was across the street getting a pizza and I just remembered what it was in its heyday -- it was two stores on the main floor and a hotel up above," Finch said. "The stores were Lawry Bros. furniture and furnishings.

"I got thinking about it being sold and wondered about senior housing."

Finch said Maine Preservation's mission also fits the idea of senior housing.

She said she was told the vacant Gerald Hotel was a good example of a property the group is interested in preserving.

"I said to myself, the Bangor Hotel, they turned it into senior housing; and I said, 'Why couldn't we do this?'" she said. "They said it was a perfect project. But we need to find someone to help us purchase it at auction."

She said such a project would not have the usual restrictions associated with state and federal preservation projects. She said the "endangered" designation could allow retro-fitting of the original building to blend in with contemporary construction, while maintaining the integrity of what the building once was.

Doug Harlow -- 861-9244

dharlow@centralmaine.com

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