By Andrew Strecker, Contributing Reporter
photo/Bonnie Adams
Westborough – The Spurr House, a circa-1849 property listed in the National Register of Historic Places and once all but scheduled for demolition to make way for a parking lot, continued its path to restoration at a Special Town Meeting held Jan. 9.
Westborough residents Matt and Helene Desjardins signed a purchase and sale agreement for the town-owned property at 7 Parkman St., abutting the town’s recently renovated Forbes Municipal Building, last September after submitting a bid of $135,000 for the property.
Matt Desjardins, a math teacher at Westborough High School, said his family’s plan for the property calls for “modernizing the interior, but preserving the exterior to the 1850s.”
“The plan is to renovate and restore in the best way possible, so we can make it our forever home,” said Helene Desjardins, who works as a special education team chair in Southborough. The Desjardins’ two daughters, Penelope and Chloe attend Westborough Public Schools.
The Special Town Meeting vote to allow the Board of Selectmen additional time to close on the property with the Desjardins was deemed necessary as a precautionary measure regarding a title insurance issue. The 136 voters in attendance passed the article overwhelmingly.
The Spurr House has been owned by the town of Westborough since the Forbes family donated the house to the town in 1933. The American Legion previously used the home as a meeting place, but it has been unoccupied since 2014.
The Desjardins have already teamed with Westborough-based Original Contracting to begin the renovation process.
Helene Desjardins said the purchase “wasn’t spur of the moment, but an opportunity that came along that we hadn’t expected.” She added with cautious optimism, “There are a lot of unknowns.”
Two other articles were voted on at the meeting. One authorizing selectmen to petition the state legislature to convey a small parcel of land behind the Department of Public Works on Oak Street to the town. The other to transfer $169,177 to replenish the Advisory Finance Committee Reserve Fund after the committee approved the amount for an emergency repair to a Department of Public Works salt shed roof. A December storm left two large holes in the roof, compromising the salt and sand materials intended to be protected by the structure. Both votes were approved unanimously.
