Maine Historic Preservation Commission hires firm for architectural survey of Monson

MONSON — The national firm of Gray & Pape Heritage Management has been hired by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission to conduct an architectural survey of Monson. Surveyors Patrick O’Bannon and Kendal Anderson will be documenting houses, stores, churches, cemeteries, etc. built before 1972 in order to identify historic properties or neighborhoods.

The fieldwork will begin the week of Oct. 23 and the survey will be completed by Sept. 30, 2018. O’Bannon and Anderson will be wearing Gray & Pape safety vests as they complete survey forms and take photographs from the public way — no access to private property is required. This project is in no way connected with municipal tax assessment.

Maine’s architectural survey program began in 1972. Since then, the effort to catalogue and document the historic human-made environment has continued to be a central goal of the commission’s mandate with more than 50,000 properties surveyed to date. Surveys document the historic human-made environment of communities. This in turn enables the commission to identify those properties which merit recognition as historic properties and extend appropriate protections to those resources when possible.

Architectural surveys are also economic development tools. The data gathered aids in planning for future growth, assists environmental review work required for state and federal undertakings and will be the basis for nominating properties to the National Register of Historic Places, thus making them potentially eligible for state and federal tax credits for certified historic rehabilitation. The survey data also may be used to develop programs to promote heritage tourism.

Once completed the results of this survey will be available to the residents of Monson at http://www.maine.gov/mhpc/carma_disclaimer.html and will assist long-range preservation planning in this community.

Questions regarding this project may be directed to Michael Goebel-Bain, architectural historian for the Maine Historic Preservation Commission at 287-5435 or michael.w.goebel-bain@maine.gov.