Old Middle School To Be Torn Down

Despite an impassioned plea to save at least the facade of the old , the Town Meeting Monday night voted to allow the school, built in 1895, to be torn down.

The site at 71 Greenwood Avenue has been on the market, but has attracted little interest. The reason, town officials believe, is that the historic designation on part of the school makes it a difficult and risky project.

Martin Grasso, who heads the Building Oversight Committee, said the historic designation adds “an element of risk” for any future owner of the property. So after several public hearings, the committee decided to ask the town to allow the entire building to be torn down and thus give it a chance to get a more favorable price for the property.

Two Planning Board and Historical Commission members appealed to the Town Meeting to save at least the facade. Angela Ippolito made the motion to require that any buyer or developer preserve the front facade of the old three-story school building. She was supported by Sylvia Belkin, who said that these historic buildings “enhance our community.”

Ippolito appealed to the Town Meeting to save the facade because it would give those who grew up in the neighborhood and those who went to the school “a sense of who we are.”

Other members urged that the historic designation be lifted to allow the town to secure as high a price for the site as possible.

“We need to get the tax revenues from this project as quickly as possible,” said Martin Goldman.

Myron Stone, who attended the middle school, said requiring the facade to be saved would only add costs for the developer and make it a tougher project.

After the vote, Ippolito said privately that it is unfortunate that too few Swampscott Town Meeting members value the architectural character and the history of buildings in the community.

 American Legion Post Finally Transferred

 The Town Meeting finished what it started decades ago when it agreed to donate $20,000 from the future sale of the American Legion Leon E. Abbott Post 57 site to the Swampscott War Memorial Scholarship Fund.

In 1980, the town agreed only to pay $10,000 to the fund for the transfer of the property. But due to the expense of reconstituting the legion's building association and other factors, the legion asked the town to double its donation.

The Town Meeting members agreed.

The site was used for years as a senior center, and the town assumed it owned the property. But when the town began looking at the possibility of selling the site, it realized that the property had never been transferred to the town's ownership. With the pledge of the donation, the legion's building association will transfer the property.