Proposed Historic House Demolition in Weirs Beach

[Boardwalk Bluesboy]

The historic house at 76 Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach is proposed for demolition. This is the second house on Lakeside Avenue in from Route 3.The house was built in the 1880s and is about 140 years old. This was the former home of Hazel Tarlson Cannon. It operated as The Maples, a tourist home, and was later the home of Weirs Action Committee President and Laconia City Councilor Judy Krahulec.

The loss of this house will negatively affect the historical character of Lakeside Avenue and Weirs Beach. It dates from the early development of the resort, and would mark the first time a historic house on Lakeside Avenue has purposely been torn down. (Two other Lakeside Avenue houses have been lost, both due to fire - the NHVA's 3rd Regiment building in 1924, and Story's Tavern in 1991.)

The City of Laconia's Heritage Commission will be meeting at 5pm tomorrow (Thursday, November 12), at Laconia City Hall to discuss the proposed demolition. Please attend and make your concerns known.

Anyone with historic photos of the house is urged to post them here. McDude?

Thanks to Warren Huse for the following:

Hazel Tarlson Cannon, 86, proprietor of The Maples at Weirs Beach, died, Dec. 6, 1984. She had been a piano teacher for many years and had played for local dance bands. She was church organist at Trinity Community United Methodist Church for more than 50 years. Mrs. Cannon was married to Col. William Cannon, an early aviator at The Weirs (and who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II). As noted, she was a pianist; she is pictured in many photos of Tarlson's Tune Toppers and other musical aggregations of her brother, George Wesley Tarlson Jr., who was exceedingly prominent at Weirs Beach as merchant, band leader, head of the Weirs Water Co., captain of the Weirs Fire Department, state senator, bank trustee, builder of Tarlson's Arcade and a few other things.

March 21, 1985: Major William A. Cannon Sr., 85, of the Weirs, dies; noted aviator and businessman, who served in the Navy during World War I and the Army Air Corps in World War II, retiring from the Air Force Reserve in 1958. During the years immediately preceding World War II, he owned and operated the Weirs Seaplane Base and conducted government-sponsored Civil Pilot Training Program, using Piper Cubs on floats.

[joey2665]

What is the reason for taking it down?




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[mcdude]

.............










Nothing historic but a few pics never hurt a thread

[NH4me]

What a shame - this house has such character and whatever replaces it will be just another building, no matter how nice and new.

[fatlazyless]

76 Lakeside Ave, Laconia: $7478 - property tax 2019, and $363,200 - assessment according to Trulia.com(24-photos) which values it a $525,363 with 5-bedrooms, 2.5-baths, updated and refreshed interior with an historic exterior design, built in 1870, includes a detached in-law apartment, all on a hillside .30-acre lot with a big, big water view of Lake Winnipesaukee.

This one old house, built in 1870 is the #! best historic home in all of Weirs Beach with its design and prominent location as seen from the road.

It has two large flat spaces down at the public sidewalk in front of the large stone wall that get leased out to a bike week seller which probably goes a long way to offset the property tax.

[Boardwalk Bluesboy]

Originally Posted by joey2665

What is the reason for taking it down?

It is unknown at this time what the owner’s plans are after demolition. The owner has also owned the Boardwalk Bar & Grill property (the former Weirs Beach Waterslide) since 2010, and purchased the Faro restaurant (the former Weirs Beach Lobster Pound) properties earlier this year. In the rear, the house does abut part of the Boardwalk Bar & Grill property.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Boardwalk Bluesboy

It is unknown at this time what the owner’s plans are after demolition. The owner has also owned the Boardwalk Bar & Grill property (the former Weirs Beach Waterslide) since 2010, and purchased the Faro restaurant (the former Weirs Beach Lobster Pound) properties earlier this year. In the rear, the house does abut part of the Boardwalk Bar & Grill property.

Sounds like the owner has some BIG plans in the making!!

[upthesaukee]

Maybe, between the properties on either side of rte 3 plus the Lakeside property, the hotel and conference center some folks have been clamoring about for years, in order to bring the Weirs "up to date" , will be in the works. Just a thought.

Dave

[joey2665]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Sounds like the owner has some BIG plans in the making!!

There have been activity on the large parcel above these houses. Excavator has been going some type of prep work.


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[tis]

It IS very sad to see these beautiful old houses torn down.

[garysanfran]

It may be important to understand what it is...

[camp guy]

Some years ago there was discussion on this Forum about "rehabing" Weirs Beach. Included in this discussion was mention of Hampton beach. Both Weirs Beach and Hampton Beach have suffered similar paths with respect to popularity with visitors and quality of "product" making visitors want to visit either of these places.

Hampton Beach was not a pleasant place to visit, visually, and not a safe place to visit, socially, and was quickly developing a reputation of a place to not go to. Weirs has been in a similar mode for quite some time, maybe a little more slowly, but, based on the activities of the 1950s, I'd say maybe just as bad.

Hampton Beach decided to change, and to this end they spent millions of dollars cleaning the place up. They also had a very aggressive Executive Director of their local Chamber of Commerce. Physically the place was cleaned up, repaired, painted, and new vendors came in. Socially the place was cleaned up by substantially increasing the police presence, putting some 'teeth' into the enforcement of local ordinances, providing lighting, parking, restrooms, and other amenities attractive to families. Hampton Beach realized that any tourist locale that has places in which visitors spend money must appeal to the parents because they are ones handing out the money to the kids at those places. So, if the overall ambience of the locale is acceptable to the parents, then they will bring their kids who will spend money. And, as a by product, restaurants, lodging facilities, and adult-orients retail will also grow.

So, Weirs could take a long hard look at the way Hampton Beach resuscitated itself and maybe learn a thing or two. Weirs is much smaller than Hampton Beach, but the internal components are relatively the same. A huge stumbling block to "rehabing" the Weirs is clearly the human factor involved, namely, the local government officials, the landlords of current facilities at Weirs, developers and others who want to make their profit up front, and the on-going question and problem surrounding the quality of the water in the Lake.

If the Lake quality diminishes, all of the above means nothing. With strong, clear-headed leadership, a substantial amount of money, and a plan that makes sense, the Weirs can be a premier location once again.

[TheTimeTraveler]

Originally Posted by Boardwalk Bluesboy

The historic house at 76 Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach is proposed for demolition. This is the second house on Lakeside Avenue in from Route 3.The house was built in the 1880s and is about 140 years old. This was the former home of Hazel Tarlson Cannon. It operated as The Maples, a tourist home, and was later the home of Weirs Action Committee President and Laconia City Councilor Judy Krahulec.

The loss of this house will negatively affect the historical character of Lakeside Avenue and Weirs Beach. It dates from the early development of the resort, and would mark the first time a historic house on Lakeside Avenue has purposely been torn down. (Two other Lakeside Avenue houses have been lost, both due to fire - the NHVA's 3rd Regiment building in 1924, and Story's Tavern in 1991.)

The City of Laconia's Heritage Commission will be meeting at 5pm tomorrow (Thursday, November 12), at Laconia City Hall to discuss the proposed demolition. Please attend and make your concerns known.

Anyone with historic photos of the house is urged to post them here. McDude?

Thanks to Warren Huse for the following:

Hazel Tarlson Cannon, 86, proprietor of The Maples at Weirs Beach, died, Dec. 6, 1984. She had been a piano teacher for many years and had played for local dance bands. She was church organist at Trinity Community United Methodist Church for more than 50 years. Mrs. Cannon was married to Col. William Cannon, an early aviator at The Weirs (and who served in the Army Air Corps during World War II). As noted, she was a pianist; she is pictured in many photos of Tarlson's Tune Toppers and other musical aggregations of her brother, George Wesley Tarlson Jr., who was exceedingly prominent at Weirs Beach as merchant, band leader, head of the Weirs Water Co., captain of the Weirs Fire Department, state senator, bank trustee, builder of Tarlson's Arcade and a few other things.

March 21, 1985: Major William A. Cannon Sr., 85, of the Weirs, dies; noted aviator and businessman, who served in the Navy during World War I and the Army Air Corps in World War II, retiring from the Air Force Reserve in 1958. During the years immediately preceding World War II, he owned and operated the Weirs Seaplane Base and conducted government-sponsored Civil Pilot Training Program, using Piper Cubs on floats.

Does anyone know the current zoning for this location? i.e. is it residential or commercial?

I think the current zoning may have a lot to do with a request to demolish as someone can make some money by doing something else...

[Boardwalk Bluesboy]

The zoning is Commercial Resort. Which means the owner can build either commercial or residential. The one thing we sure don't want to see there is another parking lot/vending area for bike week. Since the owner hasn't come forward with any plans in conjunction with his demolition request, I'm afraid that might be just what he has in mind.

[TheTimeTraveler]

With commercial zoning you can likely be 99% sure that it won't be another house.

[Boardwalk Bluesboy]

The Laconia Heritage Commission will be holding a public meeting on Thursday, December 9th, at 5pm. This will be a Zoom meeting, so you will be able to attend remotely. It is important that as many people as possible speak at the meeting. If you can't attend, you can still help by emailing your comments to codeenforcement@laconianh.gov. Attached is the public notice of the meeting.

[WinnisquamZ]

What is the issue you are looking to address? It is unclear to me


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[Boardwalk Bluesboy]

Originally Posted by WinnisquamZ

What is the issue you are looking to address? It is unclear to me

The issue is, we don't want to see the house torn down, and replaced by a parking lot!

[WinnisquamZ]

The owners want to tear it down. No one knows what they are planning after, but you want to stop them. You could buy the property from them and do what you want to it. Just saying


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[PineyPoint]

I will be representing 76 Lakeside at tomorrow's hearing (Dec 9th) regarding its demolition/removal.

I encourage you all to attend & participate. I am looking forward to a good discussion about the past, present, & future of Weirs Beach.

~Emily Ricard