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Leslie Clement (413) 567-7887
Caring for clients along their real estate journey in Western Massachusetts |
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IN THE PRESS
Ghostly Voices Helped Pave Way for Restoration Springfield Republican August, 1986
By Ray Kelly
A local developer claims ghostly voices persuaded her to restore a 96-year-old home in the McKnight district.
“I was driving by the house when it called out to me, ‘Buy me, fix me,” it said,’ said Leslie Clement, general partner of Clement Restorations. Clement unveiled the remodeled Victorian townhouses on 345 Bay Street at an open house last night.
When Clement began renovating the stone and shingle home in November 1985, the crew had to deal with “infestations of cockroaches, mice, bats and ghosts.”
Workers at the site often reported hearing the sound of toy trains in the loft of the three-story home, Clement said. “About twenty years ago, the people who lived here used to repair Lionel trains for the children in the area,” she said. The home, built by the Muir brothers of East Longmeadow in 1890, is the only remaining monument to a bygone ear. “Everything in the immediate are has been torn down except this building. It has an inner strength,” Clement said.
Clement compared her search for rehab funds to Dorothy’s adventures in the Wizard of Oz and introduced Mayor Richard Neal as “the good witch of the East” who helped her obtain necessary grants and loans to renovate the house.
The mayor said he was impressed with “the great work and the craftsmanship” Clement provided in renovating houses on Central Street. “If we are going to refurbish the City of Springfield, it has to be done to the old as well as the new,” Neal said.
Before the refurbishing of the house, it was in “gloriously horrifying condition,” Clement said. “It was just an awful wreck.”
During the renovations, the developers were careful to preserve the look and feel of the original design, said Lynn Drenzek who helped supervise the renovations. Cathedral ceilings, eyebrow windows, sandstone chimney and natural chestnut Victorian trim highlight the 19th century home.
The Queen Anne-style townhouse features two unique towers that possibly reflect the different personalities of the original Muir brothers, says Clement. “This building is one of the city’s most unusual remaining historic structures, an accomplishment especially noteworthy in Springfield, the City of Homes.”
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Dominique wears a Victorian outfit to welcome guest yesterday to an open house to show off the restoration work at 345 Bay Street. The others, from left, are Leslie Clement, contractor and owner, and Christopher Edmunds and Phillip Wright, vice-president at Bank of Boston. |
