Historical group opposes work on golf club

A modern-day rift between historical preservationists and Wellesley Country Club officials has developed on the same spot where an angry mob of Wellesley residents decided to split from their Needham brethren 125 years ago.

The Wellesley Historical Commission, along with a vocal group of disenchanted club members, is trying to derail a plan by the club's Board of Governors to tear down the clubhouse building, which contains the ballroom where the fateful vote was taken in 1880, and build a new complex.

"This is probably the most historical building in our town," said commission chairwoman Marjorie Arcand. "In our estimation, to destroy this building is to uproot the town's collective memory."

A Feb. 18 letter sent by the Committee of Concerned Wellesley Country Club Members, signed by 150 club members, urges the defeat of the $20 million construction plan at the club's upcoming March 6 annual meeting.

"We believe that the existing clubhouse is a historical treasure, and that creative renovations will produce an even more beautiful, functional building that addresses members' needs at considerably less cost," the letter read.

Club officials say they proudly acknowledge a distinguished list of historical happenings on the site. On April 19, 1775, the West Needham Minutemen, led by Wellesley town father Caleb Kingsbury, rallied on the spot before marching to join the battle of Lexington and Concord. In 1838, the town of Needham built a poor farm on the spot that later housed Civil War widows and orphans; after that, the building was used for several decades as a town hall.

Since 1921, when the town of Wellesley sold the property to the club, the 36,000-square-foot building has undergone three major renovations -- and several minor ones. Those changes have all but erased the structure's historical relevance, said Bob Chatel, the club's acting president.

Chatel said few original construction details remain, even in the storied ballroom where generations of club members have celebrated weddings, anniversaries, and banquets. No historical marker or plaque indicates the history of the ballroom, and the room is not frequently visited by tourists or historians.

Rather, Chatel said, it is the Wellesley Avenue site, not the amalgamated and deteriorating clubhouse building, that is worthy of commemoration. He and other proposal supporters want to see a bronze marker detailing the Revolutionary War and town secession history placed on the spot after the clubhouse is demolished.

"This is a historic site which we do intend to maintain," Chatel said. "But it is quite a burden to ask someone to keep, in perpetuity, a building that is failing badly."

The club's master plan calls for a new 47,000-square-foot clubhouse building, and redesigning the golf course, club entryways, swimming pools, tennis courts, and restaurants, Chatel said.

The board did consider retaining and renovating the existing clubhouse but found the cost prohibitive. Just bringing the existing clubhouse up to modern building codes, without any of the added major improvements, would cost $6 million in structural repairs, updated heating and cooling systems, and other infrastructure costs, he said. A renovation plan would also require the club to close the building for months, Chatel said.

The club has not disregarded the concerns of historians, said Chris Kelly, chair of the clubhouse committee, which formulated the proposal. In 2002, the club commissioned experts from the Pawtucket, R.I.-based Public Archeological Laboratory to evaluate the clubhouse's historical relevance. PAL historians found that the clubhouse "no longer possesses a sufficient degree of historic integrity" to obtain a prestigious National Register of Historical Places designation, according to the report issued by the group.

Historians concede there is little they can do to stop the clubhouse demolition if a two-thirds majority of club members approves the plan during next week's vote. The club sits on private property, and the town historical commission has no legal authority over the club. But opponents say they hope the outcry will prompt members to vote down the proposal until a more acceptable compromise can be reached.

The expense of the project is also excessive, said Frank Armsworthy, a 30-year club member. Families who already pay as much as $40,000 to join the club and as much as $7,000 in annual dues, will be assessed an additional $15,500 each, to be paid in a lump sum or financed over three or five years.