Aging building houses stockpile

By John Dignam TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WEBSTER— There may be nostalgia hidden in the etched names beneath some of the old desks in the former A.J. Sitkowski School, but it won’t be easy for former pupils to find their desks during the furniture giveaway there.

“There are hundreds of pieces of furniture here,” Town Administrator Raymond W. Houle Jr. said yesterday.


The classrooms in the 102-year-old building are empty, but desks and chairs are stacked in the gymnasium and in the hallways.

Residents are invited to come to the Negus Street building from noon to 3 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday to take any furniture they want.

“The people of Webster paid for it. Let the people of Webster help themselves to it,” Mr. Houle said yesterday.

The School Department turned the building over to the town after the Webster Middle School opened in 2012. The town is trying to decide what to do with the building, which is attached to Town Hall at the auditorium.

The building was originally Webster High School and was renamed Bartlett High School in about 1910. It became an elementary school when a new high school opened 30 years ago.

The building was last used by the School Department in June 2012. Books, equipment and other furniture were taken to the new school, but the old desks and chairs were left behind.

Not available this weekend will be a wood sculpture by Warren Wheelock, which was placed in the school library in 1934. Mr. Houle said he will contact the Worcester Art Museum for help in determining the best way to remove the solid French mahogany carving, until a decision can be made on what to do with it.

Mr. Houle said what he likes best about the old building is the view of the downtown and hills west of town from the third floor, particularly Room 301, which also affords a view of the Town Hall cupola.

“This building has a lot of class. It’s got a lot of richness to it,” Mr. Houle said.

What it may not have is a future. Mr. Houle estimated in April it would cost about $15.2 million to renovate the building to minimum standards, and a total of about $3.5 million to demolish it.

“It would be too expensive to save it,” he said yesterday.

Selectmen have said they will give priority to deciding what to do with the building, and that the issue would be addressed after the May elections.