In the spirit of Seuss, they found scrap for reuse

LAWRENCE -- They only wanted to find simple throw-away materials, not the door to "The Lorax."

But that is just what Shaw Rosen and another staff member from the Monarch on the Merrimack lofts found when they went searching at an architectural salvage center. While looking for scrap materials or anything interesting to decorate the new loft project, they came across the doors to the childhood home of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as Dr. Seuss.

The plain brown doors with chipped paint stood there with a sign that said they were once part of the home of Dr. Seuss. Knowing that Robert Ansin, chief executive of MassInnovations and developer of the Monarch on the Merrimack, was a big Dr. Seuss fan, Rosen made sure that both doors were purchased for around $1,000.

Now those Dr. Seuss doors will be incorporated into the loft project, which is renovating the old Wood Mill building in Lawrence. The doors will be on display in a community room where residents and visitors can touch the doors and learn more about Dr. Seuss, Ansin said. The loft project is even looking into getting statues of Dr. Seuss characters to be erected around the area in honor of the late author.

Why bring the doors to the loft project? "I like the idea of having a visual reminder in our project where people are going to be asking, 'What's the door?' " Ansin said.

When that question gets asked, he said, he will use it as an opportunity to talk about the environmental themes in Dr. Seuss's work, something that resonates with Ansin as he tries to create an environmentally friendly loft project.

Born in 1901, Dr. Seuss grew up in Springfield, where he started his career as an illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post, Life, and Vanity Fair magazines. He published "The Cat in the Hat" in 1957, making him a household name in children's literature. During his career, he won two Academy awards, two Emmys, a Peabody Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. He died in 1991.

His childhood home in Springfield was eventually declared a landmark, but that didn't prevent it from being demolished. The doors of the house, however, survived.

"Usually, these things were thrown away," said Ansin. "I don't think it makes good business sense to throw things away and pay to throw things away that you could sell."

Throughout the Monarch on the Merrimack will be antique items salvaged from the Wood Mills when it was a major industrial site in Massachusetts. The building was the location of the Bread & Roses Strike of 1912, and within the hallways of the loft building will be historical information of that iconic strike and the city of Lawrence.

In addition, when construction is complete, the Monarch will be powered by geothermal exchange, so that no fossil fuels will be burned to heat or cool the building.

When seeing the Seuss doors in Lawrence, Ansin said he hopes local residents will make the connection between the themes of Dr. Seuss's work and the goals of the Monarch.

"What Dr. Seuss wrote about [in] his really whimsical, fun stories are, in my opinion, some of the most important messages," said Ansin. "They are simple, yet so profound."

Ansin's favorite Dr. Seuss book is "The Lorax," an allegory about the conflict between industry and the ecology. The Lorax is a "mossy, bossy" creature who "speaks for the Truffula trees" because "the trees have no voice." The Once-ler is a short-sighted businessman who carelessly destroys the local environment in his quest for profit. He eventually runs his own company out of business.

Ansin said he will introduce the doors to the public during Earth Day this year. And he plans to give a public reading of "The Lorax."

The Monarch on the Merrimack is slated to open to residents next year. The building will have an Internet cafe, a jazz club, and an independent movie theatre. About 600 to 800 lofts are on the market.