GRAFTON — Residents and town officials are at odds over what to do about a historic building that has fallen into disrepair.

Earlier this month, the Selectboard voted to condemn the East Grafton Par sonage. Selectboard Chairman Leif Hogue and Jennie Joyce voted in favor, citing safety concerns.

Selectman Russell Poitras did not attend the meeting.

The Selectboard defines “condemned” as “access isn’t granted, it’s locked up to keep people out,” Hogue said during a phone interview.

The decision came after Andrew Cushing, who lives next door to the building on Turnpike Road, volunteered the previous month to re place the roof on the Greek Revival style structure, which was built around 1845.

“If the roof caves in, if the man gets a broken neck or a broken back or whatever in the process of this roof falling in, whose liable? The town and in turn the Selectboard because we let him do it,” Joyce said in a recording of the Nov. 7 meeting. “I, in good conscience, can’t let anybody go on a roof that’s not safe, whether it’s free or not.”

Grafton has owned the parsonage and the neighboring East Grafton Christian Union Church since 2013, when the dwindling congregation gifted it to the town.

The town, in turn, leased the buildings to the Grafton Historical Society.

Hogue, who was elected to the Selectboard in 2022, emphasized that the Selectboard did not vote to demolish the building and that the board is still considering its future.

In 2018, the town’s liability insurance provider considered the building condemned, according to the 2018 town report. Town officials were unaware of that until informed by a Valley News reporter and are now working to gather information about the parsonage’s history.

“Our next step now is to meet with our town lawyer to see what our options are with the town building,” Hogue said in a phone interview a week after the meeting. “Ultimately I would like to see the building gone.”

He suggested that the parsonage could be demolished or used by the town’s volunteer fire department for training. There has also been talk of using the land the parsonage sits on to create a parking lot for the neighboring church. Hogue said he’d also be open to selling the building — without the accompanying land — to a private resident, provided they could move it from the property.

While he can appreciate the history of the building, Hogue said it is not worth spending taxpayer dollars to fix it.

“When I was in it, the structure was not sound. ...” Hogue said. “The center of the floor dips down for a good foot. If you put your hand on the outside of the building and push, the wall moves a little bit.”

The town has other historic buildings it must maintain, including the East Grafton Union Church and Grafton Town Hall, Hogue said. He would prefer to see the town put its resources there instead of the parsonage. “We don’t have any other buildings that are in this state,” Hogue said. “The parsonage is the only one that’s unsafe.”

The East Grafton Union Church, which is on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, was built in 1785 on Razor Hill Road and served as East Grafton’s meetinghouse, according to the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. It was moved to Turnpike Road in 1842 and renovated in 1896.

The parsonage was originally built as a single-family home and was part of a farm until it became the parsonage around 1900. The two buildings are on a combined 2.8 acres of land, according to town records.

The parsonage is not on the Register of Historic Places. In 2018, there was an attempt to add the parsonage to the church listing on the register, but it was ultimately not added “due to property owner objection,” according to a determination of eligibility report from the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. Buildings that are listed on the register can qualify for state and federal grants.

In 2022, the church and its property were assessed at $209,800 and the parsonage at $53,800.

Cushing, who was a member of the historical society in 2013, said that the parsonage needed work at the time the town took it over.

“It hasn’t been in great shape in a long time,” he said. “It does have a wet basement. The roof has needed to be replaced for years now.”

Cushing said he offered to replace the roof for free to “buy the town more time to figure out what to do with” the parsonage, which has a septic and well system. Around a year and a half ago, he said, he’d also offered to buy it from the town for about $40,000, an offer that was refused by town officials at the time.

Cushing said if he purchased it he’d likely renovate it, then rent it out as an accessory dwelling.

“It’s a building that’s in a good location,” he said. “It should be a residence. We desperately need housing, and I think the house is well-suited to be a house.”

Hogue said that the town could not sell the parsonage and the land it sits on to Cushing because doing so would violate a town ordinance that states all building lots must be two acres. If Cushing was to purchase the parsonage, it would make the property the church is on less than two acres.

“Only way I would be interested is if he would buy the building and move it,” Hogue said. “I would not cede town property to him because it’s on the same property as the church.”

Cushing, who is president of Mascoma Valley Preservation, a nonprofit organization devoted to restoring historic buildings in the Mascoma Valley, said that the group is not involved in his bid to purchase the parsonage. He also is not the only resident who wants to see the parsonage saved.

Chris Dyson purchased her home across the street from the parsonage this summer. The parsonage was a factor in her decision, she said because it’s historic and she thought it would be restored.

“Because I own a property in very close proximity, I think I should be notified of their decision. I feel decisions concerning historical properties should have input from the townspeople,” Dyson wrote in an email. “I feel it would be a shame to destroy the parsonage. It’s just as relevant as the restored church next to it.”

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.