WINCHENDON – Two and a half years ago, Legrand Masonry of Athol applied industrial-strength shrink wrap around the clock tower of Winchendon’s Old Murdock Senior Center to curtail further collapse of the structure’s brick exterior.
At the time, company vice president Eugene Legrand said he had never seen a wall fail so completely. The shrink wrap was used to prevent bricks and other materials from falling on vehicles and pedestrians passing by the front of the building, which was constructed in 1887. This week, a long-term effort to effect repairs to Old Murdock finally got underway.
On Thursday, outgoing Winchendon Town Manager Justin Sultzbach told the Athol Daily News, “Old Murdock is a three-phase project. What they’re working on right now is Phase 1. Phase 1, in terms of scope, entails predominantly fascia restoration, with a little bit of slate roof restoration, and a little bit of work on the clock tower face as well.”
Sultzbach said that once the first phase is complete, it will shore up a significant portion of the visible issues at Old Murdock. The second phase will replace part of the slate roof and some of the copper flashing. The final phase includes work on the windows and exterior wood fixtures. He added that there is no timeline for the second and third phases and funding has yet to be secured. A rough timeline has the first phase being done this summer, the second completed next summer and the final phase the year after that. The first phase will cost approximately $1 million and is being done by CSI Construction.
“They’re DCAMM (Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance) certified for historic preservation work for masonry,” he said.
Three years ago, an effort to approve a Proposition 2 ½ override of $3.7 million gained the support of 62 percent of Winchendon voters attending the Annual Town Meeting. However, the proposal needed approval by two-thirds of those voting and was defeated by a slim 4-point margin. Phase 1 is costing $1 million, approved at a subsequent Town Meeting. Phases 2 and 3 are estimated to cost approximately $4.6 million.
Old Murdock served as the town’s high school until 1962, when it was replaced by a new school that eventually became Toy Town Elementary School. A new high school was constructed in 1994. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com