Volume CXXXIII, Number 9 November 9, 2001 f

Council clears path for Stowe purchase
FE VIVAS
STAFF WRITER

The proposed sale of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and Inn to Bowdoin College is one step closer to realization with the Brunswick Town Council's recent approval to rezone a large portion of the facility for increased College use.

The Brunswick Town Council recently voted to rezone the Harriet Beecher Stowe House so that it may be used as a dormitory. (Henry Coppola, Bowdoin Orient)

Prior to this declaration, the Stowe House and Inn was divided into two distinct sections with inverse town zoning assignments. The inn portion added to the original structure in 1968 remains designated as a "College Use 4" zone. This zone allows for the utilization of the property for college offices, educational facilities, libraries, museums, media studios, parking facilities, artist studios, religious institutions, or theatres.

The house section of the residence, named a national historic landmark in 1963 and immortalized as the place where Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a part of Uncle Tom's Cabin, was originally marked as a town "Residential 2" zone where college use is prohibited.

The decision to extend the "College Use 4" zone to include the entire facility comes as welcome news to Bowdoin officials who were awaiting this crucial step in order to finalize the college's purchase of the Stowe House and Inn.

Bill Torrey, Bowdoin Vice President for Planning and Development, remarked confidently that the sale should close within the next month and that administrators are currently exploring the possibilities for the use of the front portion of the house.

The inn currently houses over 40 students displaced by the swelling demand for on-campus housing in recent years. The college plans to keep the inn portion of the house for student living. The front portion of the house, under the current owners George and Marilyn Elwell and James Koulovatos of Brunswick, currently houses the bed and breakfast, administrative offices, and restaurant of the Stowe House.

The College is still undecided on the future use of the front portion of the house. Possibilities include renting out the space in order to keep the house operating as an inn and restaurant, expanding dorm space to include the house, designating the space for visitor housing, placing offices for Upward-bound type programs within the space, converting the space to housing for summer programs, or establishing a museum within the historic quarters.

The pending purchase of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and Inn signals new possibilities for the expansion of the Bowdoin campus. Bowdoin administrators are hard at work devising plans for the College's future use of this valuable space.