Wells Sherman House to Move on Saturday

The final chapter in the relocation of the Kent Wells Sherman House will come to a close on Saturday when the house is moved to a permanent foundation at 247 N. Water St.

What comes next for the volunteer members of the non-profit Kent Wells Sherman House, Inc., is to restore the interior and exterior of the historic house so it can both be rented to a paying tenant and provide space for public use.

Stein House Movers, Inc., the firm that moved the house to its temporary location on East College Avenue in August 2012, will once again slowly truck the house down Kent streets early on a Saturday morning.

Roger Thurman, vice president of the KWSH board, said the house will take the following path: South DePeyster Street to Erie Street, then Erie Street to South Water Street, South Water Street through the Main Street intersection on to the lot at 247 N. Water St.

Thurman said in a recent interview with Patch that the end plan for the house has not changed, and that includes renting the upstairs to local attorney Nancy Grimm while making the first floor available for public use.

“We’re going to work on the upstairs first,” he said. “We have a tenant waiting to get in there … so that’s going to be our first goal.”

Thurman said work on restoring the exterior may be delayed until 2014 due to the upcoming winter months.

“But we’ll certainly be working on the interior,” he said.

That work includes installing heating and air conditioning, plumbing, electrical and other basic utilities.

Thurman said the basement also is being considered for rental space.

“The first floor will be for public usage, some of which will be fee-based,” he said. “And we’re building a basement bump-out in the back which will have a stage on it, so if we have an overflow event.

“That’s sort of a work in progress,” he said. “We’re just mainly concentrating on getting the building up and running as soon as we can.”