NORTH ANDOVER — What were months in a delay to demolition of a historic home and landmark are now days away.
The circa-1730 Colonial house at 169 Chestnut St. in North Andover, once home to Revolutionary War stalwart Col. James Frye III, is a witness to history and on the brink of becoming history itself.
On June 4, the town-imposed delay to demolish the wood-framed house expires, allowing homeowner John “Jack” Cahill to knock it down and sell the lot beneath it.
Two other lots on Cahill’s 2.6-acre subdivided parcel are already up for sale.
The property’s historical barn sits on a fourth lot. Cahill has filed for and received permission to demolish the massive, stone-foundation building.
Proponents of saving the Frye House, including North Andover Historical Society Director Joanna Kerr, would feel the loss was the barn to go, but early on, they decided to focus their energy on trying to preserve the house.
“The house itself is really valuable in terms of it being there to tell the story of Col. Frye and what he did and what it means for our town,” Kerr said.
Last June 4, the North Andover Historical Commission voted unanimously to place the 12-month demolition delay on the Frye House in an effort to find a buyer and save one of the most historically significant structures in town.
As of early March, interested parties, including Kerr and resident Bob Allegretto, had yet to find a way to preserve the house.
Kerr and Allegretto, who have remained in contact with the owner, had hoped the purchase of the home might be placed before Town Meeting voters as a warrant article.
If the town bought the house on an interim basis and placed a preservation easement on it — with an eye on selling it to someone who would maintain the house — it would have given Frye House supporters more time to find a buyer.
But there was not enough support for the article and nobody was willing to sponsor it, Kerr said.
Kerr has reached out to Historic New England, a nonprofit that owns and acts as a steward for more than 35 properties in the five New England states, operating museums and hosting visits.
But the organization is not in a financial position to buy and maintain additional historic houses, Kerr says.
Frye House supporters have yet to wave the white flag.
“We will plan to spend the next three months trying to find a private buyer,” Kerr said in early March.
Kerr estimated it would cost about $800,000 to buy and do necessary work to the house.
Allegretto wondered if a wealthy New Englander, perhaps a celebrity with interest in New England culture, might be interested in saving the house.
There are stories yet to be told about people like Frye, who came to the fore in a divided time when the population was split among patriots, loyalists and people on the fence.
“Part of me thinks that it was only because he (Frye) died after Bunker Hill that he isn’t regaled today,” Kerr said. “You know, if he had been around on the Fourth of July, 1776, he may have been in George Washington’s government.”
Frye played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War, both leading up to and in the earliest phases of the rebellion.
“He trained the minutemen and the militia for years from, like 1770,” Kerr said. “He would have them on top of the hill here, and he would train them how to hold a gun and how to walk in a line.”
Frye, who was born in 1710, was raised as a farmer, owned an ironworks, fought in the French and Indian War, and became an early leader in Andover (North Andover and Andover were then one).
He also owned at least one slave, a man named Caesar, who may have accompanied him at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Frye was mortally wounded while rallying troops on Bunker Hill, preventing a rout of American citizen soldiers in retreat.
As Allegretto sees it, there are four possibilities for the Frye House, located about a mile from the town common.
Demolishing the house is the worst case, he said.
The next worst scenario is if the owner doesn’t want the house on the property and it has to be moved.
The third scenario, a desirable situation, is that the house remains on the property and some organization or entity comes in to maintain it.
“And probably the best thing is that a private homeowner buys it for the purpose of restoring it, living in it, maintaining it that way,” Allegretto said.