There’s a huge old house for sale in the gorgeous, historic Maine village of Paris Hill right now. The federal-style house sits on almost 2 acres, has four bathrooms, nine bedrooms and almost 5,000 square feet of floor space. The 1812-vintage structure even has views of New Hampshire’s Presidential Range in the wintertime.
And the paltry $125,000 price tag is only about a quarter of the state’s current median home price.
But there’s a catch: It’s a wreck.
“It really needs some serious foundation work,” said listing real estate agent Fred Greenwood of Keller Williams Realty, “and somebody with a pocketbook.”
According to the online details, the house has no serviceable wiring, plumbing or heating. The basement has a dirt floor and a barn that once sat attached to the main building is now just a pile of rubble.
But the house is also replete with scads of intact historical touches including original wood trim, a fanlight over the front door and a spacious sunporch. The house on Paris Hill Road also contains original paneled pocket doors that vanish into the wall when not in use. A half-dozen brick fireplaces grace the structure as well. One even has two built-in cooking ovens.
Up until a few years ago, Greenwood said, the red-clapboard house was occupied by a single older person living in just a few rooms on one floor.
“It was kind of a hoarder situation,” Greenwood said.
Then, a pair of new owners took over about three years ago with big plans to renovate and save the faltering house.
“They must have taken away, I don’t know, maybe a dozen dumpsters of stuff,” Greenwood said.
Besides removing years of accumulated cultch, the owners installed a camper onto the property — which goes with the sale — and began taking down failing plaster walls and ceilings. But the renovation job proved to be too big and the owners are ready to pass it on to someone else who wants to take over.
Greenwood reckons another good option would be to tear the building down and incorporate any salvageable details in a new structure. He said a shed on the property has a fireplace that could accommodate a pellet stove and be made livable for someone to stay in while either project goes forward.
The grand old building is known locally as the Amos Armsby House. A housebuilder by trade, Armsby constructed it around 1812. He was also a veteran of the War of 1812, serving in 1814 as a sergeant in Capt. Jonathan Bemis’ artillery company in Portland.
However, Armsby only lived there until 1815. That year a cabinetmaker named Joseph Lindsey moved into the house. Armsby then sold it to Rufus K. Goodenow in May 1825.
Though Armsby’s house sits close to the Paris Hill Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s not in it. Therefore, Greenwood points out, there are no restrictions on what a buyer can do with the house.
Greenwood said he’s had quite a bit of interest since relisting the property late last week. He hopes the grand old building finds the right buyer.
“Someone who would want to preserve it as much as they can,” Greenwood said.
