Precarious Scituate, Mass. Lighthouse Removed for Renovation

Abstract

Crews removed a 92-year-old historic lantern room from atop a lighthouse in Scituate, Mass. due to concerns it could topple and injure storm chasers venturing to the lighthouse point to catch crashing waves. A 50-ton crane lifted the lantern on Oct. 6 during an approximately two hour-long operation, says Mike Gnazzo, president of Cenaxo, a Willington, Conn.-based architectural restoration firm that managed the lantern removal. On Oct. 11, as part of a discovery process, crews demoed a non-original concrete slab poured atop the original slab, then placed a temporary roof on the lantern, to complete phase one of a three-phase lantern room restoration project. The report confirmed the "Lighthouse was imperiled, and the lantern room had to come down," says Rick Pomroy of Pomroy Associates LLC, the town's project manager. The Town of Scituate issued an emergency order to remove its lighthouse lantern room to avoid the risk of its toppling down onto spectators who visit the point to watch crashing waves in storms. "A lot of shoring and supports were in place to support the lantern from above, so once they hooked it up to the crane, we could cut it free at the bottom."Constructed in 1811, the lighthouse tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, and the lantern room was installed in 1930 during the Great Depression. "A town is judged by its public buildings and its ground, and the town thought it should put a lantern on ," says Robert Chessia of the Scituate Historical Society, "But it was not lit because it was not the navigational aid at the time, and it was very dangerous to light."View of lantern room foundation atop lighthouse stone tower after lantern room removal.