COLRAIN — A recent state Supreme Court ruling that a Pittsfield art museum can legally sell a Norman Rockwell painting donated by the artist himself has resonance in Colrain, where town officials want to know if an 1840s home can be sold.
After receiving a legal opinion from KP Law, the Selectboard is seeking State Attorney General Maura Healey’s consent and approval of Probate Court to sell property that G. William Pitt created as a “public charitable trust” and willed to the town for a history museum.
The Selectboard would like to sell the building to the Historical Society, which would then be responsible for fundraising and making improvements to the property. But if the Society doesn’t buy the building, the Selectboard would like to see the property put back on town tax roles, and have the historic collections removed to another place for safekeeping.
According to a structural evaluation of the Pitt House, done last summer by Michael Rainville of Structural Support and Design Services in Conway, the home and grounds need between $84,000 to $120,000 worth of repairs to meet museum-use standards.
But another study by Shelburne architect Joseph P. Mattei argued that renovations could be done in gradual stages, with limited occupancy in the house and some of the outbuildings. The Mattei report said “educational use” is exempted from some state zoning regulations, allowing the Pitt House, barn and Stacy Carriage Barn to be used by small groups.
Recently, several Historical Society members came to a Selectboard meeting to request the town budget money for some immediate repairs. President Belden Merims said part of a barn attached to the house is sinking and is in danger of pulling away from the house. Also, some of the slate roof shingles need fixing, and the Society would like to add lighting and a handicap-access ramp to the Stacy Barn. For now, the Stacy Barn is the only structure used by the public, for a historic lecture series.
In recent years, the town has budgeted $10,000 a year for building maintenance, but that sum is not in the budget for the fiscal year that begins in July.
Selectwoman Eileen Sauvageau said appropriating money now for Pitt House repairs “is disingenuous, if we’re going to sell the building.”
“I would like to see it sold and have the next person take care of it,” she said.
Selectman Jack Cavolick said water coming down the hill behind the house is affecting the foundation, and that drainage must be improved. He said the town has been “putting bandages” on the building all these years and thinks the cost of major repairs should come before a town meeting vote.
“Everything we’ve talked about today, we’ve talked about in the past,” Chairman Mark Thibodeau said. “Personally, I’d like to sell it to you (the Historical Society) and have you take care of it. Purchase it, take it over, and you don’t have to answer to anybody.”
Pitt gave the property to the town “for use as the headquarters of the Colrain Historical Society and as an historical museum,” wrote lawyer Katharine Lord Klein. “In my opinion, the fact the town accepted the gift, and the property has been used by the Colrain Historical Society, under the supervision of the Board of Selectmen, for over 40 years, is compelling evidence that a public trust was created.”
In 1976, town meeting voters unanimously agreed to accept the gift of Pitt’s home, which contains the Historical Society founder’s autographed theater memorabilia and antique furnishings, along with historic town artifacts. The house has been used as a museum in the years since, although it has mostly been closed in recent years.
Under state law, according to Klein, restrictions on the use of property that are unlimited in time are enforceable for 30 years — except if a charitable trust is created. In Pitt’s will, if the town had declined the offer of the house for use as a museum, the property would have gone to Northfield Schools for the benefit of the Mount Hermon School for Boys. In that case, Northfield Schools would have had the option to sell the Pitt House, with the proceeds to have been used for other school campus construction.