FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the issue?
The Carey Cottage at “Creek Farm” was designed in 1887 and enlarged in 1892 by noted Boston architect Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow. It was built for Arthur Astor Carey, a leader in New England's cultural and artistic ife in the late 19th- and early 20th centuries. With J. Templeman Coolidge III, who acquired the nearby historic Benning Wentworth estate, they created the Little Harbor summer colony of prominent writers, artists, architects, lawyers and historians.
The Society for the Protection of NH Forests, the owner of the Creek Fam property, filed for a permit to demolish the Carey Cottage and posted notices on the property to that effect on April 4, 2019, leaving 90 days for public input. The Society has suggested preserving the Music Room (and just one of its 2 stories) as a free-standing Music Room, informational pavilion and deck if they can raise $750,000.
How can I help?
1. Write a letter opposing the demolition because of the historical and architectural significance of the house to:
Robert Marsilla, Building Inspector
Inspection Department, City Hall
One Junkins Avenue
Portsmouth, NH 03801
With a copy to
Jane Difley, President
Society for the Protection of NH Forests
54 Portsmouth Street
Concord NH 03301
2. Follow @PortsmouthAdvocates and @SaveCareyCottage on Facebook.
3. Attend Portsmouth Advocates meetings.
4. Attend the Demolition Review Panel public hearing and followup meetings.
Why do they want to tear it down?
According to published interviews with the Society spokesman,
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SPNHF prefers to hold land in conservation, not buildings.
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SPNHF claims that the Billie Noel deed requires them to tear it down without a lease plan in place.
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SPNHF claims to have made a good faith effort to find someone to use the building and needs to “move on.”
What’s wrong with that?
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Many who knew her say Billie Noel changed her mind – and the deed -- when she realized she could both conserve the property for public use and save the house.
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The project was nominated for the National Trust 2019 list of “11 Most Endangered Sites” based on the NH Division of Historic Resources assessment that Creek Farm is historic enough to qualify for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, because:
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The house was built in 1888-92 by notable architect Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow
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The house is one of very few remaining 19th century Arts & Crafts Style ‘summer cottages’
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The owner, Arthur Astor Carey was a notable Boston philanthropist. Founder of the Boston Society of Arts & Crafts and member of the summer arts colony at Little Harbor.
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In 1905, Agnes and Arthur Carey hosted the Russian and Japanese delegations to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty conference several times. Their hospitality, recalled in an oral history by their daughter Alida, was an example of the citizen diplomacy evidenced in Portsmouth during the Treaty summer.
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Billie Noel asked the Forest Society to permit listing on the National Register. They never did.
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The building itself contains valuable architectural and decorative details beyond the Music Room.
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Carey Creek Farm is one of a very few tangible traces of the citizen diplomacy of the 1905 Treaty summer and is the sole example that proves that the citizen diplomacy worked.
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President Theodore Roosevelt, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for orchestrating the multi-track diplomacy that produced the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, relied on citizens like NH Gov McLane and the Careys (he never came to Portsmouth)
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He rewarded the Careys for that assistance, by providing a harbor cruise for the family aboard his presidential yacht, .
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Citizen diplomacy is so central to the NH character that the NH Legislature unanimously established a statute recognizing Portsmouth Peace Treaty Day as an Official Observance to celebrate the historic treaty and NH citizen diplomacy.
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Participants in efforts to find an investor to preserve/use the house say every offer they suggested was rebuffed.
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According to some statements, the Society requires that offers must include a significant financial commitment and a partnership with a non-profit.
What’s the rush?
SPNHF says the property costing them around $2,500/month to maintain and has filed for the demolition permit. which leaves until July 3, 2019 to try to stop the process. But in terms of the building, there is no rush. Sound preservation policy suggests it would be possible to mothball the building to allow time to find the right investor. And save thousands in demolition and remediation costs.
Didn’t we go through this before?
Yes. In 2000 SPNHF also wanted to tear down the building, but were held off by a Boston University case study presented at a 2001 public forum. With a committee of outside advisors a candidate for use was identified-- that Cornell Marine Labs, who occupied Carey Cottage from (2006 to 2016).
Is Creek Farm listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
On November 1, 2000 Creek Farm was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources (NHDHR), the State of New Hampshire’s Historic Preservation Office. The property was found eligible for the National Register Criteria A, B, and C with significance at the state level.
Now Portsmouth Advocates has filed a Statement of Significance for the national level. Of the approximately 93,350 National Register of Historic Places listings, the overwhelming majority are listed with significance at the local level with a relatively smaller amount listed with state level significance. Only a fraction of properties are listed with significance at the national level. When a property is evaluated for national significance it is considered in relationship to other properties and property types with a common historic context. In the case of the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth, Carey Cottage must be evaluated with the other properties in the region associated with this important global event to determine if another property is more closely associated with the context and/or event.