STANDISH – A historic Standish house is being carefully disassembled this month in preparation for relocation to the Rockport area.

The Higgins House, a 1794 Federal-style home that sits on commercial property at the busy routes 25 and 35 intersection, has been for sale for several years under listing agent Linda Griffin, of Pleasant River Properties. William Klingelhofer, an antique home restoration specialist from Rockport, recently purchased the home for an undisclosed sum. He has hired local builders Chris Churchill and Stewart Stone to dismantle the post-and-beam structure and prepare the beams and boards for transport to the Rockport/Camden area, where the home will be reconstructed next year.

Klingelhofer said he bought the house only, and that the land still remains for sale. Butts Commercial Brokers in North Windham is the listing agent for the commercially zoned property, located at one of the busiest intersections in Standish.

“There is so much character to the house. It’s in excellent condition and is a classic example of early Federal period architecture,” Klingelhofer said.

The house is one of the oldest in Standish and was located next to the fort that stood at Standish Corner and was built by early settlers to ward off Native American attacks in Standish’s early days. The house is located across Route 35 from another historic home, the Tompson House, where George Washington is supposed to have danced and overnighted.

The crew dismantling the house, which boasts six fireplaces, raised paneling and crown moulding, started the process in early October and hopes to have it completed by the end of the month. Along the way, they are labeling each piece in order to make next year’s rebuilding easier.

“It’s basically a giant puzzle,” Stone said. “Wooden pegs interlocking the post-and-beam construction.”

Churchill added that the half-dozen crew members are also “finding a million nails, like they were free or something.”

Klingelhofer said he will store the dismantled building – one of the oldest homes in Standish with only two families owning the property in its 200-plus-year history – in the Rockport/Camden area over winter and rebuild in the spring. A barn located in the rear of the property will likely be used for a training burn by the local fire department, Griffin said.

Griffin, herself a historic home buff, said she and the home’s owners, Robert and Isabel Higgins, would have rather seen the house stay in place and be sold with the property, but removal by a noted antique home restorer who has promised to rebuild the structure as a whole was the second best option.

“Mr. Klingelhofer really understands old homes and so this is the best alternative,” she said.

The skeleton of the Higgins House is on display for passersby at
the busy intersection of routes 25 and 35 in Standish. The classic
post-and-beam construction is in excellent condition, more than 200
years after it was built. (Staff photos by John Balentine)