Conant s Riverside Farms in Richmond In 2017, the Tipton family Benjamin, Michelle and two teenage children returned to Vermont after nearly a decade away to establish a family farm. They found and purchased a 20-acre former farmstead in Burke Hollow whose only remaining structure was a deteriorating barn. It had sunk a foot into the ground in places, many of its timbers had rotted, and the roof was near collapse. People in town knew it as the red barn on the hill that the foxes lived in, Benjamin Tipton said during a phone call from his other job as a physician s assistant.
$500,000 donation to save gasholder raises hopes but doesn’t guarantee its future John Horangic of Bishop Brady High School joins the Save the Gasholder event on South Main Street on Dec. 29. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor file
Modified: 1/8/2021 4:55:19 PM
An anonymous donation of $500,000 has given new hope to the idea of saving Concord’s gasholder, although the fate of the historic building is far from settled.
The donation was announced Friday at the final meeting of the ad-hoc Gasholder Committee, which recommended that the city council accept a report outlining a multi-year, multi-million-dollar plan to save the building as a cornerstone of neighborhood development. The committee unanimously said Concord staff should begin discussions with the building’s owner, Liberty Utilities, about how to proceed.
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The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance says an anonymous donor is giving $500,000 to help save from demolition a 133-year-old red-brick coal gasholder building in the state that is believed to be the last of its type in the country.
The alliance and city officials in Concord say it is the last of 14 known gasholders in the nation that still has its inner workings intact.
Its owner, Liberty Utilities, says the dormant building is in poor condition and has become a safety hazard. It says either a very expensive repair job needs to take place or the building needs to be demolished.
Donor gives $500K to save historic gasholder from demolition msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Final online meeting Friday by gasholder supporters
One of the several drawings of the possible renovations and expansion of the Gasholder building created by Kent Ruesswick of Green Building Solutions of Canterbury and Harry Seidel of Alae Residential Design. COURTESY John Horangic of Bishop Brady High School joins the Save the Gasholder event on South Main Street in Concord on Tuesday, December 29, 2020. GEOFF FORESTER
Alex Ray, the owner and founder of The Common Man Restaurants, at the Save the Gasholder event on Tuesday, December 29, 2020. GEOFF FORESTER
Liz Durfree Hengen of the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, Pat Meyer and Alex Ray in front of the gasholder building on South Main Street in Concord on Dec. 29. Geoff Forester / Monitor file