Peter Tufts House Looking for Volunteers

The Peter Tufts House at 350 Riverside Avenue, Medford was built around 1678. It is one of the oldest brick houses in America. Peter Tufts, Sr., the first owner, emigrated from England around 1640. A descendant, Charles Tufts, provided 200 acres and a large sum of money to found Tufts University in 1852.

The house was purchased by William Sumner Appleton, the founder of SPNEA, in 1929 and subsequently gifted to SPNEA. Eventually, faced with the cost of maintaining so many historic houses, SPNEA decided to dispose of some of their properties. In 1982, the Medford Historical Society purchased the house from SPNEA (now known as Historic New England), with the purpose of keeping the house in the hands of a non-profit organization that would operate it for the benefit of the community.

During the last 30 years, the house has been open for tours from time to time and also used on occasion for academic research. A long term tenant is in the process of moving out.

Now, the Medford Historical Society finds itself in the same predicament that SPNEA faced 30 years ago. We do not have sufficient resources to maintain the house and are considering putting the property on the market for sale to a private party. Fortunately, SPNEA placed a number of conservation restrictions on the property 30 years ago so that regardless of who owns the property, it cannot be torn down, built onto, or have its historic features altered by any owner.

We believe that grant money could be secured to improve the property. Then we could rent to new tenants and generate the income necessary to sustain the house for a number of years. But the Society does not have the volunteer resources to manage this effort.

We will keep the house if a committee of five to seven qualified volunteers comes forward and is willing to take responsibility for managing the house. “Qualified” means:

Expertise: The committee must include people with the following skills:
– Property Management (relations with tenants, routine maintenance)
– Historic Preservation (knowledge of available resources, best practices, etc.)
– Construction Management (how to administer and oversee relatively complicated projects)
– Fund Raising (Grants, donations, etc.)

Personal Commitment:
– The committee members commit to staying on the committee for at least three years.
– They will be unpaid volunteers.
– The committee chairperson attends the regular monthly board meetings of the Historical Society.

Results Oriented:
– The committee will be responsible for drawing up and executing a plan for stabilizing and maintaining the property. The plan will be subject to approval by the Society board.
– The committee will commit to a timeline for fund raising and repair projects.
While the dollar amount is not yet determined, it will be in the $50,000 to $100,000 range, not counting funds from the Society treasury.

Timeliness:
– The Board needs to be up and running by July 31, 2013 and work with the Society Board to establish a timeline for subsequent activities.

This message is being sent to:
– Medford Historical Society Members
– Medford public at large through Medfordmass Listserv
-The Medford Historical Commission and Historical District Commission
– Historic New England
– Tufts Kinsmen Association
– Mass Historic Preservation email list

If you are interested in this exciting opportunity to conserve this important property and maintain public access, please contact John Anderson, President, for more information. Please include a summary of your relevant experience. John can be reached at jwa02155@yahoo.com or 781-395-5138.

– Information and photo from Ryan Hayward, President, The Preservation Collaborative, Inc.