The Pink House sits on a triangle shaped, 2.9 acre parcel, the longest edge of which runs along the Plum Island turnpike. The last owners who lived in the house owned 2 additional small parcels which were marginally adjacent, and came with the house when the US Fish and Wildlife Service purchased it in September 2011. Many assume all the land around The Pink House is conserved marsh land - or part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. But the entrance to the Refuge is actually 1.3 miles down the road from The Pink House! Interesting Fact: A quick look at any map shows that much of the land surrounding The Pink House is owned by the Colby's -- a much loved, local family of farmers who have passed the land down from father to son. There are also some individually owned parcels that have held them for generations but are not conserved, though some of land before and after the bridge is held by Greenbelt, as identified by their small trademark signs. If you'd like to check it out, visit the Newbury Assessors Map. It's fun! Support The Pink House agreed with FWS to carve out a little over an acre from that 2.9 acre parcel when we first signed the second Agreement to Initiate Exchange together in December 2021. Many building codes are easier if you have at least an acre. FWS granted that, and co-signed all our applications to complete that process with the town. But the acre + size was also perfect because that contained the upland the house sits on, and the long driveway leading to the street. Since then, we have completed the process to survey the land and map the wetland for the purpose of creating an ANR. We worked with the excellent Donohoe Survey, the owner of which, Paul Donohoe, has been an incredible friend and advisor to STPH, additionally donating quite a bit of their time attending meetings and giving advice through the years. We have been so grateful to the many professional who have done work pro bono, often putting other income producing work aside to meet deadlines with us. This not only shows us how truly wonderful people are, but reinforces the widespread understanding of how much this house means to the region. Written by Rochelle Joseph, President and volunteer for Support The Pink House Inc.
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Seven years ago, when the grass roots movement to protect The Pink House began, supporters knew that among the many hurdles and moving parts, we would need state recognition of the historical significance of The Pink House’s iconic building exterior and setting. This recognition, which can only come from the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC), is also the only thing which can allow for a perpetual (forever) preservation restriction under state law. “Form B” The beginning of the state’s process is to submit to the MHC a “Form B,” a building inventory form designed by the National Park Service to record historically and culturally significant properties. The form requires details of the history of the property, the building’s architecture, and exacting photography. The Pink House History STPH board member Sandra Tilton, with assistance from STPH founder and board member Alison Odle, began immediately to research the building’s history. They were joined by Newburyport Preservation Trust researchers, resulting in a comprehensive, deed-researched history of the The Pink House by 2019. The Pink House Architecture In the Spring of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, STPH began the process of creating and officially filing the “Form B” with MHC and preparing a draft preservation restriction. With funding from the Newburyport Preservation Trust, we were able to hire historic preservation specialist Eric Dray for invaluable help with both tasks. Eric told us it was important to document the particular architectural style of The Pink House — a Foursquare — and its rarity and significance in Newbury. Although unable to visit himself during the pandemic, Eric, with the Town of Newbury, guided STPH volunteers in photographically documenting existing, and still pristine, Foursquares in Newbury. The Pink House is rare indeed! The Pink House Photographs The Pink House has been photographed extensively for the purposes of the “Form B” and the next step - the draft preservation restriction. Sandra Tilton’s photographs led the way. The resulting “Form B” is now part of an important next step to protect The Pink House as generations have seen it. It is included in a draft preservation restriction still subject to approval by the MHC and the Town of Newbury. While the complex process to protect The Pink House is not over yet, The Pink House “Form B” is a key milestone, and we want you to see it! Editor's Note: We'll write another blog about the next step of a Preservation Restriction mentioned here, if you'd like to follow the progress and learn more. So keep an eye out here, or bookmark this page. Feel free to subscribe to our newsletter as well! Written by Stephanie Niketic, Preservationist, Support the Pink House Advisory Board
In 2014, when a local newspaper article announced a plan to demolish the iconic Pink House in Newbury, it sparked an overwhelming community desire to keep it standing. By January 2016, group of dedicated locals formed Support The Pink House (STPH).
Our mission became to keep the house standing and help find a solution that would ultimately see the house restored, forever pink, and in its unique and stunning setting. Experts in various fields stepped in to offer guidance. As we began working on solutions with the owner, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), we started see how complicated accomplishing our mission would actually be. But, with the help of a lot of wonderful people, we kept working on various steps, one after the other, cto move forward. One of the biggest questions was - how do we make sure that the house will stay what it is: a nearly 100 year old Foursquare with a low profile use, and a signature roofline and silhouette that has become an identifier to this area? How do you restore the house and paint it anew, but retain the appealingly faded charm? How can we make sure the shade would stay the same from decade to decade, not hot pink one time, Pepto pink another? Also, how can it be prevented from being built into a mansion, converted into condos, or torn down entirely once in new ownership? How do we ensure that The Pink House, now a well-known icon, will stay visible to (and inspiring) the public, as it has always been when occupied by family after family, throughout it's history? Preservation and restoration advisors said the way to do this was to create a perpetual Preservation Restriction (PR). Stephanie Niketic, STPH Advisory Board member, who tirelessly works for local preservation, led the way. Nick Cracknell, Portsmouth City Planner, had recently come aboard. Among other contributions, he, worked on a first draft of this PR with Stephanie as STPH board member Kelly Page combed through every word, adding details as she went. Once Stephanie thought it had reached a point that a professional should work on it, both she and Nick agreed it should be in the hands of Eric Dray, Preservation Consultant. To aid the public understand what we learned through this process, STPH went to Eric to ask him to explain the basics - Preservation Restrictions 101! He kindly agreed. “Preservation planning at the local level is a three step process," Dray explained. "You identify, evaluate and protect a property." He continued, "The approach toward preserving The Pink House is very similar to what you'd do with a historic district, but in this case, it is done for one building. So the ability to change the outside of the building must be reviewed and approved by the local historical commission." Thus, The Pink House's perpetual Preservation Restriction would be held and enforced by the Newbury Historical Commission. But before it can be so, the Preservation Eric composed using the points we provided, has to go through a series of approvals, ultimately with Mass Historic. We asked Eric some basic questions: WHAT IS MASS HISTORIC? The Mass Historical Commission is the state preservation planning agency. One of their responsibilities is to review and approve Preservation Restrictions. Much of what they do is governed by sState statue, including their obligation to review and approve PR’s at the local level CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THE THE 3-STEP PATH TO A PR? 1. IDENTIFICATION: "This first step requires documentation to research the architecture and history of a given property. Dray said, "We would gather any photos, a history of the house, what the owners may have meant to or contributed to the area, and also make a case for the architectural style and age of the house. And it is put on various building forms -- specifically a Form B in the case of The Pink House." 2. EVALUATION: "This second step is done to understand the relative significance of that property within that town. Upon our submittal of the Form B, MHC did that with The Pink House, and indeed recognized it as historically significant as a rare example of a Foursquare house in this area." 3. PROTECTION: "Now decisions can be made about whether and how a structure can be protected. In the case of The Pink House, that would be through a Preservation Restriction (PR)." STPH learned a Preservation Restriction can be attached to the deed for a number of years, at which time may be able to be renewed, or lapses. A perpetual PR is also available, which does just what its name says. In this case, we of course were pursuing a perpetual PR, to effectively prevent the house being developed into condos, heavily adapted to become a mansion, painted another color, or be torn down. The PR must go through a series of reviews and votes of approval. First, the Newbury Town Counsel and Historic Commission review our draft, and vote to agree to hold it. It them moves on to Mass Historic (MHC), for any changes and ultimately, approval. Once that is done, it comes back to the Newbury Historical Commission, as well as the town Select Board for their votes of approval, and signatures, along with SPTH's Board. It then gets filed by the state and is forever on the deed. STPH is half way through this process, and are excited to be on the way to a fully approved PR. Update: You can read more about our first steps in this blog post written by Stephanie Niketic. Spring is in the air! With the nicer weather and renewed activity recently, Support The Pink House has seen increasing community support. Thanks to the help of volunteers & friends, many new local businesses have kindly agreed to display our cling stickers on their doors and windows. When locals and visitors see The Pink House logo, it helps raise awareness and let people know that there's a group still hard at work to protect and preserve this favorite local landmark! We want to extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to all of our local partners, new and old, for their support and kindness! And this is only a sample. We'll be featuring them in the next couple of posts, so please check back right here! Click on any photo to go to their website! Visit our Supporters Page to see a full list of our community supporters. Written by Alison Odle, Founder and Board Member of Support The Pink House
Northshore Magazine has their annual Best of the Northshore (BONS) 2022 survey up for voting online… and someone nominated The Pink House this year as the Most Instagrammable Spot! As the curator of the Support the Pink House Instagram account, I give many thanks for putting us on THE list. We’d love it if you would VOTE for us! Detailed instructions below. I’m very appreciative of everyone’s show of support through sharing their Pink House posts on IG and tagging us, using the hashtag, #supportthepinkhouse, among others. I realize the question of where the “best Instagrammable spot” on the Northshore is isn’t only about the best IG page, but also our Followers. It’s a testament to just how many are drawn to The Pink House and post that on Instagram. Our page really is a place where caring is through their sharing! I wanted to give a shout out to our Followers! They are the best! Our IG @supportthepinkhouse started on September 1st of 2016. At the time, when we were starting up, the focus was on our Support The Pink House Discussion Group on Facebook. So it took till October 2nd of 2018 to expand our social media reach, and I, who was volunteering at the time, was asked to curate the IG account. When I took it on, there were only 16 posts and 40 followers. I excitedly began with a passion to create a visual means by which all could experience the artistry and allure of The Pink House. It has grown to 2,820k Followers with 782 posts! It’s such a pleasure to know so many enjoy what we show (and tell). I get tickled pink by comments of memories and true admiration for The Pink House. More than numbers, it is visible proof of a community in support of this local icon! The collection of angles, views, colors, artists, weather, clouds, bird sightings proves how much The Pink House is posted on Instagram. And there’s still more to come! It never ceases to amaze me that no two posts are the same, regardless of direction, season, etc. Therefore, I’m here to help you make an honest, informed decision on your vote. Today I invite you to look back through @SupportThePinkHouse on IG and catch up on what you may have missed. Think of it as going back to a museum where you may notice something you hadn’t before and may decide to read the gallery notes in an exhibit. While here, you can even find someone new to follow. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see more than photographs and paintings… there’s articles, gift décor, jewelry, events, drawings, digital art, crafts, maps, videos, snow owls, hawks, stories, and of course, selfies. The Support the Pink House Instagram account is tangible evidence of how influential this unique house is. If the Northshore Magazine was to research for its readers what spot is most repeatedly posted on IG, they’d have to look at 100 accounts to find commonality. Yet The Support the Pink House IG account is solely about this one Instagrammable place!
The DEADLINE is May 1st so please consider voting now by using the link below. It only takes a minute! 1. Click the link: https://bit.ly/PHVOTEBONS 2. Look for the category "PLAY" 3.Scroll to INSTAGRAMMABLE Spots 4. Find The Pink House on the list 5. Click VOTE, give an email and it’s done! Also, feel free to ‘volunteer’ by asking friends and family to vote too, or share this on YOUR social media! THANK YOU! Written by Kelly K Page (@kellykpage). Instagram Curator of @SupportIhePinkHouseaccount, photographer, artist, and Executive Board Member of Support The Pink House It's time for North Shore Magazine to hold its yearly awards for what people deem as THE BEST in our area. And... drumroll please... our iconic Pink House has been nominated for the Most Instagramable Spot! And YOU can VOTE for The Pink House to WIN in under 3 minutes! Here's how;
We sure think The Pink House a winner. And we're not alone! Check out just A FWS of the photos people have posted on our Instagram account, most incredibly curated by Board Member Kelly Keislich Page. You can find more by following us there @supportthepinkhouse! An Instagramable Spot is described as something visually noteworthy, artistic, interesting and meaningful - a great spot for a photo! Wouldn't you say The Pink House fits that description??? You can only vote once, but from EACH email you have. Help by Inviting your family and friends join in too... And we'd be delighted if you'd share this blog (or the instructions) on your social media! It's a great way to "volunteer" if you love our Pink House — and we know how very many do! If everyone who has written us, put testimonials on our social media, has painted, photographed, driven out to visit, written about this house, made craft items of it or bought Pink House art voted, it would win by a landslide! Please stand up and let your voice be counted! Think Pink! And thank you! There was a nice letter published in the Daily News written by Steven Lindsay entitled Defend Beauty, Culture and Heritage. He captured, using only a few paragraphs, an idea shared by many who live in this area. And it's a thought provoking read. Steven was visiting Plum Island and became inspired by the idea that the effort to preserve some of the original aesthetics of the area, in this case in the form of original cottages and homes, is a way to maintain our and the area's heritage. Further, he suggests that these remaining stand as symbols of a simpler time, and serve as a way of grounding ourselves in a world that's become pretty topsy turvy. His call is for us to continue to defend these symbols — because it's important. We know change is a constant. Some improvements are good, and some are inevitable but there are certain things worth fighting to keep for posterity, to retain the charm so many moved to this area precisely because they are there. And why others are drawn here, which greatly helps keep local businesses, and all the people and services who are needed to run them, artists, and cottage industries afloat. Our heritage is a critical to link to preserving what makes our area so special. In this case, Steven included The Pink House among them, speaking for the many who do too. He makes the point that he world may feel like it's turning upside down, but when you drive out and see these places you get a sense of how important a service it is when some things remain stable. The Pink House, for example, has stood in its marvelous setting for nearly 100 years. What do you see and feel when you dive out to sit with it? Or photograph it The sky stretches out endlessly. Birds fly in formation going past. One or whole flocks may alight on that iconic rooftop. On certain days, you can hear the steady coming and going of the ocean waves, or marvel at the spectacular beauty of the marsh on either side at high tide, or when frozen over. The idyllic scene as the Colby farmers hay the salt grass on their property surrounding the house harkens back to simpler times. As the moon and sun rise and set over The Pink House, you witness splendor running the gamut from a riot of color through to the gloaming when all the is left is that signature silhouette. And as you take it all in, you will feel a primal relief, a sense of grounding. Preserving what matters is powerful. By Rochelle Joseph
Sunrise on February 14th at The Pink House revealed something hanging on the chain drawn across its gravel driveway. Closer inspection revealed it was this wonderful Valentine! Someone had taken the time to make this by hand, and brave temps below freezing to bring it as a surprise for all to see. A result, we have learned, of a program The Newburyport Preservation Trust began a program for young preservationists in 2019. We learned that this valentine was made by a third grader, likely from the Francis T. Bresnahan Elementary School in Newburyport. Each year, The Newburyport Daily News has covered this wonderful appreciation event that teaches kids to care about history and preservation! As they grow, none of them will look at what makes New England special the same way again. Some may go on to become preservationists. It's very similar to animal conservation. Once you have close encounters and make a connection, you develop an interest and respect for the animal (or houses) and if they're not cared for properly, you'll notice, and often speak up or pitch in to protect them. New Englanders are lucky. There are so many historic homes the region -- and others that are just very special, for all sorts of reasons. They may have interesting architecture, or their occupants may have played an interesting role in the town or the trades. They may inspire artists, or have a story behind them. In The Pink House's case, there's the urban legend that it is a spite house. It has certainly brought global attention to the house, but our researchers did a very deep dive into all the records and photos that exist, along with many conversations with old timers or their families. By constructing the evidence based on facts, we came up with a very different scenario! The house has in fact been lived in and loved by many families. It's pretty interesting, so please visit our history page to learn what we discovered! Whatever the reason, all the homes bring charm to a place, and make people want to visit, live, or stay here. And that is a great reason to show them some love on Valentines Day—and celebrate year round! If you'd like to learn about the periods of houses and how to identify them based on their architectural features, you might really enjoy reading THIS page on the Newburyport Preservation Trust's website. It goes through each home's period, complete with a photo of each example of it, starting with the First Period (1625), up to the Victorian Period, which runs till 1900. It's a fascinating and fun read. You may want to print it out to use and plan to walk or drive around to spot homes and figure out what period they belong to! FUN FACT: A house must be over 75 years old to be considered for historic recognition in MA. Built in 1925, The Pink House will be 100 years old in 2025! Written by Rochelle Joseph
Almost all of us are familiar with a house appraisal. For the average home, it's a pretty simple process. You hire someone, pay a few hundred dollars and get your report in a week or so. But this is another way that The Pink House is not an average home! That is one thing Support The Pink House (STPH) has learned again and again on the mission to save and restore the house on behalf of the community. Getting an appraisal was the first step to learn IF the house could be traded to new ownership in a land swap. Because it is now owned by the federal government, far more stringent standards and processes are required -- in this case, something called a Yellow Book Appraisal. It is an extensive study to determine the "highest and best use" of The Pink House and its land. Among other things, that includes a study of nearby home owners and the general area, finding comparable (which really are nearly impossible to find for such a special property), talking to the municipality, builders who assess structural value and a plethora of other factors. Because so much research is involved, the appraisal can take 2-3 months, cost around $5000, and deliver a report of 60 or more pages! For this purpose, we asked that The Pink House be appraised with a little over an acre, which includes all the upland upon which it sits. Since The Pink House can't be sold at this time, the purpose of this step was to establish an approximate value for The Pink House and its acre, so the land the FWS could add and conserve via trade could be located. Once we completed this step, it allowed FWS to begin looking for suitable land and STPH to move on to the next step which we will cover in the next blog post. A word about a land swap. The US Fish and Wildlife's mission is to conserve land and the habitats for wildlife, in perpetuity. Buildings or structures rarely figure in to their plans. If they acquire land that happens to have a structure on it, as was the case of the 3 parcels totaling 9.29 acres that came with the purchase of The Pink House, they often demolish it. Marsh land or even forested land is far less expensive per acre than a residentially zoned house, even with only one acre, located off an often busy Plum Island Turnpike. In other words, trading a house they do not want on one acre, while saving the subsequent costs to demolish it, remove the debris safely, and fill the hole left, could get them many more acres of marsh or grasslands to conserve in return. FWS could conceivably acquire 50 to several hundred acres in trade for this one and The Pink House. The trade would be so much more beneficial to the FWS and their mission, while keeping the house in the community, able to be restored and available for use it would be a complete win for the region as well as the FWS! This win/win outcome is exactly why we partnered together in this endeavor, and have stayed committed to it, as we explored one possible solution after another. We were completely unfamiliar with this concept when we began working to save The Pink House, and had no idea the epic journey we were taking on as locals who rose to volunteer to do this on behalf of the overwhelming public concern to keep this iconic house in our region. We had to learn every single bit - and so know the public would likely be just like us, and want to understand it just like we did.
So we're creating a series of blog posts, each covering a step in the process to see if the house was able to be traded at all - and if so, take you all the way through with us to the successful ending! Stay tuned. and bookmark this page, so you can learn about each step the volunteers for Support The Pink House took on your behalf to see this beloved, iconic Foursquare with it's unique silhouette stand and be restored in perpetuity! |
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April 2024
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