The salvaged components of the historic Joesting-Gorsuch House are being reassembled as a two-story building on property in northern Harford County that county officials plan to use for an agricultural center.
"We've utilized all the materials from the old house that we possibly could," C. John Sullivan, a local preservationist and author, who is coordinating the reassembly with the county government and the Historical Society of Harford County, said Monday.
The county has a target date of Oct. 1 to complete the project, which is being funded with tourism revenue generated by hotel room taxes, according to Cindy Mumby, a spokesperson for the county government.
The county has budgeted $250,000 for the project, Mumby said.
The new building is being erected on the former Glen Echo Furniture property near Route 136 and Route 1 in Street. The county bought the former Glen Echo warehouse and showroom in March for $950,000 with plans to retrofit it for a centralized agricultural services center for local farmers.
The reassembled Gorsuch house would be used for a northern Harford County visitor center on the first floor and then storage on the second floor, according to Sullivan.
"It's been a long time since the county participated in saving any historic structure," Sullivan said.
The house, which had been on the Winters Run Golf Course off North Tollgate Road in Bel Air, dates to the early 1700s and was considered one of the oldest structures in Harford County.
Workers dismantled the house in November – it had to be moved or demolished after the golf course operators sold 12 acres on the northern end of the course, where five single-family homes are being built
A historic red barn was also dismantled, and the pieces were sold or repurposed for other construction projects.
Salvaged pieces of the Gorsuch house include floorboards, rafters, wooden paneling, including paneling that had been around a fireplace in the living room, plus "all the bricks that we could possibly save from the fireplaces and the chimney," Sullivan said.
The house had not been used in recent years, although golf course operators at one point or another had used it for storage, a pro shop, clubhouse and a residence for the course superintendent.
Course operators have said previously that the house, barn and the surrounding land were not being used, and the proceeds from selling the property would go toward capital improvements and debt service.
Sullivan, a resident of the Bel Air area and a retired director of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, protested upon hearing the news that the Gorsuch house would be torn down.
"There has been an awful lot of [structures] that falls to the bulldozer or the wrecking ball, constantly," he said Monday of Harford's historic buildings.
Sullivan, along with Historical Society leaders, petitioned Harford County Executive Barry Glassman to preserve the house. All parties reached an agreement to have the house dismantled and the pieces stored until they could be reassembled as a public venue.
Sullivan said the outer structure of the two-story building, which has a combined 2,000 square feet, has been constructed. Workers are putting up exterior wooden siding this week, along with interior insulation.
The original house had gray-blue siding, but very little of that could be salvaged, according to Sullivan. The new wooden siding has been designed to look like the original, and the paint was analyzed so a similar color could be used on the new building.
"I'm very, very pleased with what we've saved, and I admire the county executive for stepping up to the plate to save the structure," Sullivan said.