A 1799 one-room schoolhouse, once a Brandywine Hundred landmark but now an eyesore, will likely be torn down next year and replaced with a replica built from the original stone.
New Castle County’s Historic Review Board has approved the plan for the proposed replica of the Forwood School, just west of the Shoppes of Graylyn on Silverside Road.
However, demolition of the old structure and construction of the replica is dependent on approval of a requested rezoning of the 11.5 acre site on which the building sits.
The developer, Setting Properties, has proposed construction of a mixed-use shopping center and residential subdivision, to be called Branmar Commons, that would include 38 townhouses, about 32,000 square feet of retail space and a small dog park.
County Councilman Robert S. Weiner, R-Brandywine Hundred West, whose district includes the site, introduced the rezoning ordinance but says he has not taken a stance on the overall project. He did say, however, that Brandywine Hundred is “underserved [in terms of] walkable mixed-used villages” and noted that “retrofitting suburbia is a challenge.”
The old stone building, which continued as a public school until 1939, was the longest-serving public school in Delaware and is the oldest school still standing in the continental United States, according to James Hanby, a descendant of both the Forwoods and the Hanbys, two of the oldest families in Brandywine Hundred.
According to Marco Boyce, the county planner overseeing the Land Use Department’s review of the proposal, “the project is moving at a pace at which the applicant feels comfortable. It is not being fast-tracked.” Engineering and traffic impact studies required by the county must be completed, and several variances must be approved by the county’s Board of Adjustment. After that, the county’s Planning Board would review the proposal. Boyce expects the rezoning ordinance to come up for a vote by the New Castle County Council around the end of the year. The final step, a council vote on the subdivision’s record plan, could occur next spring or early summer.
Preservationists complained last summer when developer Joseph Setting Jr., in a public meeting at the Brandywine Hundred Library, gave a preliminary description of his plans. They described the crumbling building as a classic example of “demolition by neglect” – failing to maintain a historic property until it deteriorates to the point that there is no reasonable option but to destroy it. “It’s custom, not mortar” that’s holding the remaining stones in place, Hanby said earlier this year.
Weiner noted that Setting purchased the property several years ago, after its former owners, descendants of the members of the Forwood family who originally built the school, allowed the building to deteriorate.
Following a hearing in April, the county’s Historic Review Board issued a report on May 3 that determined that the Forwood School is “historic” but noted that “given the bad condition of the schoolhouse, creating a replica may be the only opportunity to commemorate its history.”
There had been some discussion earlier this year of possibly moving the old school to another site, perhaps onto property owned by the Brandywine School District. That option remains under consideration but no progress has been made in recent months, Hanby said Thursday. However, given the current condition of the building, “you clearly couldn’t pick it up and move it,” said Larry Tarabicos, Setting’s land use attorney.
Moving the building off site could impact the county’s review of the rezoning request, Tarabicos and Boyce said, because Setting and his design team would have to rework the plan to place something else – even if it’s open space – in the spot where the replica would go.
Because the schoolhouse had not been previously designated as a historic site, the Historic Review Board could not take any steps to prevent its demolition. For the same reason, an ordinance sponsored by Councilman John J. Cartier (D-Brandywine Hundred East), and passed by the council in May as a tool to prevent “demolition by neglect” does not apply to the Forwood property. That ordinance created a $200,000 account for the county to tap to make emergency repairs to 61 historically significant properties – and bill their owners – if the owners did not make needed repairs promptly.
Carolyn Roland, a real estate agent who specializes in historic properties and lives near the school, said she filed a complaint last week with the county’s property code enforcement office over the condition of the Forwood site. Blue tarps now cover covering much of the building, concealing the holes and significant rot in its roof, and the grass, weeds and brush surrounding it is more than a foot high in many places.
Setting said Tuesday that he believes he is in compliance with county codes for property maintenance and has not been advised of any recent complaints.
“We keep replacing the tarps. The last time was about the fifth time,” he said.
He is reluctant to do any additional maintenance to the greenery near the school. “If we made it any more accessible, people would break in. They’d be doing drugs and all kinds of crazy things,” he said.
“We’re doing everything we can to keep the building from falling in upon itself,” he said. “All we can do it protect the stone.”
Assuming that the subdivision secures all the required county approvals, the old schoolhouse would be taken down “stone by stone” and a replica created using the original materials, Setting said.
“We plan to use the same mason who has done a number of things at Winterthur,” the mansion-turned-museum that was once the home of Henry F. du Pont, Tarabicos said.
Since the replica would be a focal point of Branmar Commons, the work would be undertaken at the start of the subdivision project, Setting said. He does not have a timeline for how long the work might take.
Setting and Weiner mentioned some preliminary ideas for how the replica building would be used. One concept is a museum-like setting, possibly furnished to resemble how a one-room schoolhouse might have looked in the early 19th century. Another option would be the display of artifacts representative of Brandywine Hundred’s agricultural heritage.
The Historic Review Board, in its May ruling, did recommend that the replica building be “available for public use” and that the developer provide for its financial support and maintenance “in perpetuity.”
The old school, in its current state, has lost some of its historic character. Although its 1799 date stone is still evident, the building was enlarged from its original single room in 1845 to its current 40- by 22-foot dimension, and dormers were added, and its doors and windows changed, in 1947, when it was converted to residential use.
