Before
After
Jill and Albert Hodsdon
bought the building at 10 Common
Street, Waterville,
in 1979 from L. N. Violette Co. Inc. who bought it in
1942 while the building was on fire. We
do not know the exact date of the original building, which was
4 floors. At the time of the fire the
tenant was Painter’s Restaurant. After
the fire the building lay vacant until after the war (1945) when it was
restored to 2 floors. It was the
original home of the Morning Sentinel in 1904.
From 1945 to 1979 it was home to State Furniture, Picard
Furniture, Northern Mattress, and Up-Front Restaurant. For the last 25 years it has been office
space and the headquarters of A. E. Hodsdon
Engineers.
The Hodsdon’s wanted to
return the building to a more historical look to coincide with its location on
the square across from city Hall in downtown Waterville.
They met architect, Paul Seaman, a RISD graduate (their daughter is a
sophomore there) and he had the same vision for the building. The design for the 10 Common Street renovations was started
in March of 2004. Jill Hodsdon researched the previous building façade at the
Waterville Historical Society and photographed many buildings in downtown Providence, RI. From old photos the design evolved. The old exterior was removed. Steel beams and columns were uncovered. The steel beams are stamped with “Carnegie”
which means they are pre-1900 because Carnegie sold to U. S. Steel in
1901. The beams and columns were
repainted to match the original color.
Being an older building having been rebuilt after a
fire, nothing was plumb or level. A
portion of the foundation had to be replaced but it was done with granite to
match the existing foundation. Granite
pieces were also used to match the foundation back into the sidewalk. Glass windows were installed to simulate the
earlier look. Awnings were installed as
a finishing touch.
It
took 7 months (3 months design, 4 months construction) to complete the
project. The finances came from personal
resources along with $7,500 from the CDBG grant Waterville Maine Street secured. The contractor and subcontractors were all
local.
