Zane RazzaqCape Cod Times
WEST DENNIS – Leanne Cowgill remembers being inside the historic Greek Revival mansion years ago when it was a glittering jazz club.
The large building with tall, fluted columns along busy Route 28 was built by Capt. Obed Baker in 1861. Since then, the Columns, as it is known, has been a home, a hotel, a boarding house, and a nightclub.
It fell into disrepair after standing empty beginning in the 1980s.
“I would drive by this place ,and it was empty and rotting and it’s just sad,” said Cowgill, then corrected herself, “It was sad.”
Not anymore.
On Thursday afternoon, Cowgill, of Harwich, was one of dozens who attended an open house to see the iconic building’s long-awaited transformation.
Converted into housing
The main house now features five one- and two-bedroom condos, with two restricted for low-income residents. Next up will be building five duplexes and one freestanding house with 11 units – including two affordable – that ring the main building on three sides.
Tim McElroy, of Sandwich, and Lindsay and Mike Weiss, who are seasonal residents of Sandwich, have worked together for about seven years, developing houses on the Cape. They always admired the Columns.
“It’s one of those buildings you can’t help but notice has a presence, a story,” said Lindsay Weiss.
They watched as the property passed through a series of owners with failed ideas to revive it. When it became available again, Lindsay Weiss said it felt “meant to be” and they decided to seize the opportunity.
Over the past three years, they’ve been breathing new life into the property. McElroy said public curiosity about the building bubbled over. Fencing went up to keep the project safe during construction.
“It’s a landmark for the town,” said McElroy. “Everyone was just excited to see it being worked on. We would get people just stopping in and sometimes walk right in the front door.”
Retaining the old Columns look
Outside the house, Dennis Historical Commission Chairwoman Diane Rochelle said the house “is so close to the original in some ways and so contemporary in other ways.”
She pointed to the columns, which originally only rose one story. After Capt. Obed Baker, his daughter decided to rebuild the columns and push them above the second floor into the roof.
“So, you really have a bridge over centuries,” said Rochelle.
Salvaging and replicating the ornamental woodwork that tops the trim of the house outside was one of the most challenging parts of the restoration, said master craftsman John Siscoe, noting the substantial rot.
Meanwhile, reviving the original winding staircase was a “cosmetic restoration,” he said.
“It just needed to be cleaned up and refinished. It was rock solid on day one and still is,” said Siscoe.
Historic inscriptions, notes preserved
Over the course of the project, a letter from 1879 was discovered tucked above the ceiling on the third floor. Siscoe said they believe the letter was written by a servant who used to work at the property.
“My dear Friend Annie, I take my pen in hand to (answer) your letter which I received last week and was glad to hear from you and that you (are) well as this (leaves) me at present,” reads the letter, now framed on the lobby’s wall.
The note continues, “I don’t have much news to write. I have not (heard anything) from Flarance only what you have said as I have not (wrote) to her since I left Malden but I would (write) her if I thought she would (send) me those 2 dollars she owes me.”
Two historic inscriptions were also preserved. One was hidden behind the plaster of a second-floor bedroom and reads “Isaiah Ellis Gone to War Sept. 9th 1861.” Isaiah Ellis, born in Dennis in 1839, was a 22-year-old mason working at the Columns plastering interior walls, according to the Dennis Historical Commission. It is not immediately clear why he scribbled this down. Ellis himself fought in the Civil War, enlisting in 1863.
A second hidden note that reads "Jeff Davis Sept 5th 1861 Died" was saved behind another bedroom wall. Siscoe believes this is a reference to Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederates States from 1861 to 1865. While he died in 1889, Siscoe said the New York Times on Sept. 5, 1861 reported on rumors of his death but later confirmed he was still alive.
Both inscriptions are now framed in their rooms.
'Building a community'
Each unit has its own heat pump for heating and cooling. During guided tours on Thursday, attendees explored some of the units’ outdoor patios.
In a nod to the property’s past as a jazz club, Lindsay Weiss said each unit will have a wine locker.
“That’s kind of been our ethos here: we’re building a community, not just condos. So, we’re going to have a community garden, community bicycles, fire pit outside,” said McElroy.
Lottery deadline is May 16
The deadline to apply for the affordable units in the main house is May 16 by 5 p.m. One unit has one bedroom and one-and-a-half baths and is priced at $186,000 with a monthly $260 homeowners association fee, according to Housing Association Corporation.
The other affordable unit has two bedrooms and two baths and priced at $199,000 with a monthly $403 homeowners association fee.
Eligible applicants must be first-time homebuyers with income at or below 80% area median income and have less than $75,000 in assets. More information about the process is available on Housing Association Corporation’s website.
Finishing touches are still in the works before residents officially move in. One unit has a stubborn years-old stain on the original marble fireplace that Siscoe has been brainstorming how to erase.
But at the same time, Lindsay Weiss said embracing those imperfections keep the house authentic.
“They’re like battle scars,” she said.
Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on X @zanerazz.
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