The Friends of Old Dover were excited about the outpouring of support for Scull Mansion. It is with sadness that we have to say that it wasn’t enough for us alone to move the discussion.
The cost of an agreeable solution to Bayhealth — moving the house and restoring it at a different site — is not a possibility for a small, volunteer-run not-for-profit. The significant cost of this type of solution would require a level of volunteer effort and fundraising that would surely take away resources from other arts, culture and preservation efforts in Dover, many of which our members also support. This type of effort would also very likely result in the house’s loss of historic designation and make it ineligible for grant or tax credit financing, critical funding sources for bringing new life to old structures.
Just because we can’t do it alone does not mean there are not options on the table that we ask Bayhealth and our city leaders to consider.
Among the items credited to leading to the proposed demolition is the Meeting House Branch project, the source of most of downtown Dover’s flooding during even mild-to-moderate rainfall, including Bayhealth’s South Street parking lot. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure With Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Discretionary Grant Program, where criteria was recently amended to make it easier for small communities like Dover to apply, supports projects to replace or rehabilitate culverts and prevent stormwater runoff, and is currently accepting applications.
Support for such an effort could be used to come up with a solution that would allow Bayhealth to better utilize its South Street lot instead of the site of Scull Mansion. A parking garage using the bridge over South Street would mean hospital employees would feel safer with better-lit connections to the hospital buildings, would not have to dodge ever more aggressive motorists on State Street, would be more comfortable in cold and snowy winters, and would have cooler cars in summer, resulting in a better work experience and serving as an amenity, as Bayhealth seeks to attract and retain employees to support the health of our community.
Scull Mansion is a remarkable house and will surely be remembered if lost. Even as a relatively new person to Dover, I know of the loss of the Hotel Richardson through talking to the wonderful people who work at and frequent the Delaware Store where they still sell postcards of it to this day. We still have the chance to stop Scull Mansion from being a postcard of interest only to the local architecture enthusiast.
To that end, the Friends of Old Dover surely will not forget the Scull Mansion, even if something positive does not work out. We recently created a Preservation Committee, which is charged with building interest in and a new constituency for preservation, from ordinary citizens to elected officials. Even though the Scull Mansion may become another postcard of a lost icon, its loss will be a force that will help our efforts to find new uses and owners for other historic structures in Dover.
Nate Attard is a resident of Dover.
