The Jaws of Death

The Jaws of Death, 2013, Camden, Maine. Photo by Jim Hughes.

By Jim Hughes

As usual, I come late to the party ("The Toughest Question of All"). A couple of months back, I heard that a wonderful old example of Maine vernacular architecture was about to be demolished, and in its place something akin to a McMansion erected. The home was known locally as The Frye House, situated at the intersection of Chestnut and Frye Streets in Camden (the street was named for the original owner). Much more than a century ago, it had been a blacksmith shop, and was unquestionably part of the Village Historic District. Problem was, when the Select Board (our version of a governing body) a couple of years earlier considered the issue of housing preservation, regulating such matters for the historic business district was voted up while regulating the equally historic residential district was voted down. Yankee independence, perhaps—another New England tradition. In other words, "don't tell me what to do with my own property."

The Frye House and its small but ideally located plot of land, complete with harbor view, was sold for something like $650,000, I was told. The realtor who sold it told me that he had no clue that the new owners planned to knock down a house that most agreed was still beautiful, and that had recently been respectfully restored. If the sellers had learned of their home's sad fate, he believed they would never have sold to these particular people. Anyway, the deal went through, applications were made, and a demolition permit granted. By the time I got there with a camera, the house had been flattened. All that remained was a brick hearth and few architectural treasures rescued by a woman who lived in another historic Maine house across the street (her companion is, in fact, a Frye descendent). She draped her door with a black mourning ribbon. The day was overcast, the light was fading fast, but I photographed the funeral anyway. To my everlasting regret, I never photographed the Frye House while it was still standing in all its humble glory.

Memento Mori, 2013, Camden, Maine. Photo by Jim Hughes.

©2013 by Jim Hughes, all rights reserved

Original contents copyright 2013 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Marty: "As a native of historic New York towns like Saratoga and Amsterdam, and now a New Englander in rural New Hampshire...a few words of advice: If you find it beautiful, photograph it. It's happened to me before and I always say it won't happen again. Recently, an older ('40s-ish) filling station/garage that I always thought would make a beautiful backdrop for 'something' was demolished for new construction. I passed that damned gas station hundreds of times and always said something like 'wait til there's nice evening light' or just plain 'next time.' Whoops, no more next time.

"...And that old architecture like the Frye home ain't comin' back, FYI."

Kent Phelan: "Oh my Jim, that's just awful. I just Googled the address and was surprised to see that is is literally 20 yards down the street from Francine Bistro, in my opinion the best restaurant in Maine. Camden is one of my favorite destinations in Maine, and we try to get there a couple of times a summer (from Boothbay Harbor). A great loss, and from my outsider's view of Camden government, a shocker. That town looks buttoned down and locked down, in terms of development. Hard to imagine they would let this happen.

"On another note, I seriously enjoyed your columns in Camera 35. They were something I looked forward to every month and had an effect on me as a photo student. Belated thanks."

Comments

[Rick Wilcox]

Why these peple call themselves developers is lost on me.

[Steven Halpern]

Please note that "original owner" would actually have been Penboscots, Abenaki, or...

[Frans]

Whenever I used to come across a house, site or neighbourhood that looked interesting, I took it for granted, especially in the town where I grew up in the sixties (In Holland, I now live in Canada). I had a camera, but I used it for holidays and family gatherings. It seldom crossed my mind to take pictures of my everyday surroundings; now I'm trying to gather those images I never took, by asking others who did, in order to salvage at least something of what was destroyed. For me it's a lesson learned and at least now I'm taking pictures in my own neighbourhood here in Edmonton.

[Softie]

In this vein, I have a couple of stories on the jaws of death:

I go back and shoot Centralia, PA every so often. A few years back, I showed up one day and a wrecking crew was out demolishing one of the last seven or so homes in the ghost town. Unfortunately, all I had with me was an 8X10 monorail, which I set up and attempted to photograph the process with--or at least record the moment. I was so annoyed at my stupidity in bringing the wrong tool that I've never yet printed the shots. I didn't have a camera to stop the action with, and didn't have a 95mm ND filter to get the long smooth blur I would have liked, so I'm just unwilling to see how much I failed.

One of my jaws of life successes is that I have some really good shots of the USS America, taken in the last few years before they sank her. You never think that anything that big will ever go away, and then all of a sudden, it's gone.

[John Krill]

Using google Earth I visited the area in question. It showed more than a few NEW homes on the same side of the street. I suspect that they all have harbor views. The street level view was taken in 2007. Could it be worse than what's shown on google Earth?

[Zeeman]

This does not seem like a good year for historic buildings. For instance, earlier this week, this happened:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22521669

A 2-millenia old monument demolished... for roadfill.

[Robert Roaldi]

I lived in a place in Toronto that I detested. It was built in 1950, was a too-small house on a too-big lot, which meant hours of my life were wasted mowing useless grass. The house was full of air leaks, impossible to heat, and the previous owner had made modifications that cost me many hours and many dollars to put right.

A small local developer bought it and three other houses on the end of that block and built 10 really nice homes in their place. When they made me their offer, I told them I'd drop the price by $2000 if I could ride on the bulldozer that tore the place down. They wouldn't go for it, insurance reasons, they said. So I asked them to keep me posted about when it would be destroyed so I could at least photograph the happy moment. They called me at work one Monday morning but by the time I got there, there wasn't much left. If I wasn't so self-conscious, I'd have danced a jig on what remained of the front lawn.

Some places are worth preserving. Others aren't.

[KeithB]

We had a similar thing happen in Downey, CA, where a 50's style diner was illegally demolished. (They didn't even turn off the gas!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnie's_Broiler

[MJFerron]

I can't tell you how many of my photographic subjects no longer exist. Once in Maine and now in Texas. Old barns collapsed under a snow load, elements of rural Texas bulldozed to make way for the new etc. Camden is a beautiful town. Shame to see historic buildings disappear.

[Paul Mc Cann]

Sometimes the city councillors stand up to rogue developers, but only sometimes.

http://www.culturalheritageireland.ie/index.php/heritage-sites-and-centres/67-archers-garage-dublin

[Ed Grossman]

Jim, that's just heartbreaking. Camden is such a lovely, classic New England town. I've always thought that communities should have three zoning designations: Residential, Commercial, and Oversized and/or Tasteless. (Properties in this 3rd zone can be either residential or commercial). McMansions are proof that many aren't blessed with both cents and sense.

It's also sad to read so often of fine subjects never photographed. As a society, we seem to do a poor job of balancing our time between obligations and passions. That's a shame since through one we merely exist, through the other we live.

[Yoram]

I think I found the picture of the house in the article below. I don't know about permissions or copyrights though ...

http://knox.villagesoup.com/p/efforts-continue-to-save-58-chestnut-st/895833#.UZiG1bVkN8E

And here is the photo in larger size

http://knox.villagesoup.com/media/Common/10/BE/704084/t600-Frye_House.jpg