Client: Town of Francestown, NH
Year completed: 2018
Square Footage: 6,400
Construction Cost: $1.4M

Built in 1847, Francestown’s Town Hall has served as both a civic and cultural landmark, originally functioning as a meeting house and later as a prominent New England academy attended by the 14th President of the United States. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building had fallen into private ownership and, by 2012, was declared condemned.

MPA was engaged to develop and implement a detailed rehabilitation plan to restore the building for continuous community use. The project involved stabilizing the foundation, replacing the compromised second-floor structure, adding ADA accessibility improvements, and designing a thoughtfully integrated addition to meet egress code standards.

All work followed the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, with a focus on preserving and repairing character-defining features. When materials could not be repaired, in-kind replacements were used to preserve the building’s historic integrity.

Today, the Town Hall has been fully revitalized as a safe, accessible, and lively community space, supporting town meetings, cultural events, and community activities while preserving its classic New England character.