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Standing and falling The story of two landmark buildings offers a look at the contrasting fates of old structures By Anthony Flint, Globe Staff, 9/17/2002 ANVERS - Where others see the spooky remains of an asylum, John Archer sees Buckingham Palace, even Versailles. That is why Archer, a member of the Danvers Preservation Commission, is so pained that the redevelopment plan for Danvers State Hospital calls for the demolition of two-thirds of the Victorian Gothic structure perched atop Hathorne Hill. The asylum, which opened in 1878 and closed in 1990, is too dilapidated to save in full, according to the developers seeking to build 526 apartments there. In Cambridge, meanwhile, the 1926 Necco factory on Massachusetts Avenue will be totally preserved and renovated, under a lease signed by the Swiss biotech firm Novartis. The New England Confectionery Co. is moving operations to Revere, and pharmaceutical laboratories will replace the conveyor belts turning out candy hearts that say ''Be Mine.'' The contrasting fortunes of the two old buildings provide a window on the world of historic preservation and the practice of ''adaptive re-use'' - the recycling of existing structures as an alternative to new construction. In Cambridge, retrofitting old manufacturing buildings has become the norm, while in Danvers the campaign to preserve the past has become a much more difficult fight. ''I'm not sure many people in town have actually seen what is up here, unless they had relatives here or were here themselves,'' said Archer, surveying the hospital grounds in the pelting rain yesterday afternoon. The hospital was allowed to deteriorate and is now viewed by many in town as ''disposable,'' he said. The 180-acre property is owned by the state and the Division of Capital Asset Management recently accepted bids for its redevelopment. The selected developer, Archstone Communities, initially sought to preserve most of the quarter-mile long, 334,400 square-foot main building on the campus, known as the Kirkbride complex. But two independent reports found that the structure was in danger of collapsing and now only the shell of about 100,000 square feet in the center of the complex will be retained. Initially, the company believed it could preserve the old hospital for $240 per square foot; a more detailed analysis revealed that it would cost $271 per square foot - too big a difference to make it feasible, the company said. ''We did our due diligence and found it was impossible'' to save more, said Scott Shaull, a vice president at Archstone, which is paying the state $18 million to build senior housing, luxury apartments, and some office space on the site. ''They'd have to brace all the exterior walls while building a new interior structure, and while that's been done, the cost was a bit of a surprise,'' said architect James Alexander, whose firm Finegold, Alexander & Associates studied the project. ''We looked at this from every possible angle with the best minds in the business,'' said Kevin Flanigan, spokesman for the Division of Capital Asset Management. Still, preservationists in Danvers are not convinced. Noting that the property is on the federal Register of Historic Places, town archivist Richard Trask said more should be done to preserve the town's grandest architectural project. Another preservationist, Glenn Uminowicz, said he could not understand how the Massachusetts Historic Commission has so far failed to stop demolition. Archer said that economics plays a big role and that many town leaders eagerly await the tax revenues that the residential development will bring. Robert H. Kuehn Jr., president of Keen Development Corp., agreed that residential development at a remote site is tougher than rehabilitating office space in the thriving biotech center that Cambridge has become. ''The big companies want to be [in Cambridge] and they are willing to pay a premium for rehabilitation,'' Kuehn said. In addition, he said, renovating an existing structure in Cambridge is in many ways easier than proposing a new building. ''You are seen as taking a negative - an eyesore - and turning it into a positive,'' he said. The Necco building is one of several ''gut rehab'' projects in the former manufacturing center of East Cambridge, alongside University Park and One Kendall Square. Novartis will have to do a major cleanup job and a complete renovation of the six-story property to transform the interior into working office and laboratory space. The exterior of the imposing factory, with its trademark frontage on Massachusetts Avenue, will be retained. ''It has become a bit of a no-brainer to do this kind of work in Cambridge,'' said Kuehn. Re-using existing buildings is seen as a sustainable development practice, because the footprint of the structure - and its impact on the environment - is already there, he said. ''It also has tremendous marketing appeal.'' Anthony Flint can be reached at [email protected] This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 9/17/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. (Globe File Photo) Necco building (New England Confectionery Co.) Location: Mass. Ave. in Cambridge Old use: candy factory, since 1926 New use: new offices and labs for the Swiss biotech firm Novartis Space: 500,000 square feet, to be totally rehabilitated Developer/Architect: DSF Advisors / Tsoi/Korbus & Associates (Globe File Photo) Danvers State Hospital Location: Hawthorne Hill in Danvers Old use: insane asylum, since 1878 New use: residential apartments, some commercial use Space: 334,400 square feet, two-thirds demolished, one-third rehabilitated Developer/Architect: Archstone / yet to be chosen RELATED COVERAGE Biotech firm signs Necco lease