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Gloucester Historical Commission

Agenda (PDF)
Where
ROSE BAKER SENIOR CENTER - 2ND FLOOR CONF. RM., 6 MANUEL F. LEWIS STREET, GLOUCESTER, MA 01930
Online
Join by Zoom
Scheduled until
8:30 PM

Location from the city calendar. The posted agenda is the official notice; check it if the two differ.

What was decided

Minutes not posted yet. They usually come out after the board approves them at a later meeting.

Agenda

The commission will review updates on historic house plaques, the demolition delay ordinance, and MACRIS submissions. It will also discuss preservation awards, CPC funding requests, the register of historic buildings, Rocky Neck's Historic Art Trail, preservation restriction applications, the Lanesville/Lane's Cove National Registry District application, the Lanes Cove plaque, and Certified Local Government status.

Agenda items

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CITY OF GLOUCESTER

Gloucester Historical Commission

MEETING AGENDA

September 28, 2026, at 6:30 – 8:30 PM Rose Baker Senior Center, 2nd floor conference room 6 Manuel F. Lewis Street, Gloucester, MA 01930

Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://gloucester-ma-gov.zoom.us/j/88989069462 WEB ID: 889 8906 9462 Phone one-tap: +13017158592,88989069462# US (Washington DC); +13052241968,88989069462# US http://gloucester-ma.gov/remote-public-meetings for instructions and guidance on how to join a remote meeting.

Posted: 2026 SEP 11 PM 12:05

ADMINISTRATION

  • Approval of August 31, 2026 Meeting Minutes

DEMOLITION DELAY ORDINANCE

  • Need/create description for website (see Mendon Demo Delay bylaw)
  • Tim – creating list of historical contractors, to be posted to Google Docs under Demo-delay

HISTORIC HOUSE PLAQUES (Susan)

Currently 73 on Interactive map - Applications voted for 8/31/26, plaque orders may be underway: - 5 Wiley St (East Gloucester Yacht Club, 1901-1918) - 28 Friend St (Eben Brown, Master Mariner, R1851) - 11 Pirates Lane/ NSAA (Est. 1922) - 34-36 Summer St (Unitarian Parsonage, 1917-1939) - 1206 Washington St (Moses Parsons, Yeoman,1834) - Possible new applicant up for a VOTE?: 150 Leonard St, Annisquam - 9/3/26: Julie & Susan redesigned plaque application to remove homeowner from DIY research - Ralph revised website plaque application page to reflect new online and paper versions

2026 MACRIS UPDATES (Julie)

  • Recent work/submissions

TERCENTENARY MARKERS (Tim)

  • QR code project, Tim to work with high school students on QR code for marker posts and affixing the signs to the posts.

2027 PRESERVATION AWARDS (Bob and Ralph)

  • Bob - report on current list of nominees
  • Ralph – book at CAM? date? time?
  • Need to book 1623 Studios for filming
  • 9/8/26 RNAC volunteered to publicize call for nominees, and the event, in its newsletter, reach of 2,800

CPC UPDATE (Maggie)

  • Brief status of the 10 applicants requesting historic funding
  • Susan created requested letter of historical significance for Burnham Railways 9/1/26
  • Report on whether a National Register Survey qualifies for CPC funding (Lanesville)

REGISTER OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS (Susan/Julie)

  • Central database for the city of all historic buildings
  • 1900 and 1920 year of build was arbitrarily assigned, these are being newly researched + corrected
  • Russell & Melissa Hobbs - 126 Lanesville houses built 1900 per city
  • Stephanie Buck – 3,230 Gloucester houses built before 1900 per city
  • Benefit of making corrections: expands Demo-delay list; corrects Tax assessment records + MACRIS
  • 9/10/26 Julie & Rich met to determine parameters of an Omeka database (https://omeka.org/)

ROCKY NECK CULTURAL CENTER – Historic Art Trail (Susan)

https://www.rockyneckartcolony.org/historic-art-trail - Online self-guided walking tour of 15 historic sites; provides in-depth history and photos of each site - 9/8/26 RNAC volunteered to let GHC add additional historic sites to their website/tour - We could start with buildings on Rocky Neck with new historic plaques as we have the research - Many others: Marine Railways, Paint Factory, Giles Chapel, Salted Cod Building, The Rudder, etc. - This research can double as entries on our REGISTER of Historic Buildings

PRESERVATION RESTRICTIONS APPLICANTS, Historic New England (Susan):

  • Inquiry to Dylan Peacock at Historic New England: said our new Preservation Restriction designations (i.e. Riggs House) will appear on MACRIS through MHC, we don't have to follow-up on it
  • No further info on the following two PR Applicants: 1. WILLIAM HASKELL HOUSE INQUIRY First period, 1680, 11 Lincoln St; Susan had 8/27/26 conference call with owner Richard Samuelson, converting property to a family trust; applying for Preservation Restriction 2. TUCKER House -HAYDEN Cottage First period, c1720; MACRIS GLO.443, 64R Eastern Point Blvd Pursuing a Preservation Easement with Historic New England; GHC notified by David Rosen (per 9/1/26 email to Susan) whose firm, LandVest will represent buyer/Grantor when it is sold

LANESVILLE/Lane's Cove NATIONAL REGISTRY DISTRICT APPLICATION (Ralph)

  • Focus is on a smaller area of Lanesville center, which includes Lane's Cove, the Fish Shack, cemetery and a few smaller buildings surrounding that area that are publicly owned; if privately owned, Ralph will speak with directly.
  • The fish shacks, seawall, and cemetery would qualify for grants to repair them if NR was passed.
  • Ralph ltr 8/20/26 to MHC seeking approval for nomination; Ben Haley/Nat Reg Dir-MHC replied 8/24/26
  • Ralph is seeking funding based on Wendy's estimate of $7,000 for smaller-area project

LANES COVE PLAQUE (Ralph)

  • Update
  • 8/31/26 Letter by Susan to Ralph stating historical significance

CERTIFIED LOCAL GOVERNMENT STATUS (Susan)

  • 9/5/26 + 9/11/26 Susan emailed Michael Steinitz, State Historic Preservation Officer inquiring about our 2023, 2024, 2025 annual reports in arrears

Calendar

  • Update on Sept 11-13 Bayliss ACROPOLIS weekend program

Next Meeting: MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2026 Rose Baker Senior Center, 2nd Floor conference room, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

The city posted this as a scanned image. The full text above is a readable version.

Terms used here

MACRIS
Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, the state's inventory of historic buildings and places.

Source

This meeting on the City of Gloucester calendar. First recorded by Gloucester Publick on .