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<br /> Throughout the valley the structure is cal ledlott
<br /> 1 , !
<br /> simply " Don Cyr' s church , " and he lives in
<br /> the rectory next door. i :j ; I
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<br /> To date , the association has raised and
<br /> spent $ 600 , 000 to stabilize the building' s Intrigue , accusations of treachery , the telltale
<br /> ermore ?, hearts—Edgar Allan Poe would have loved thecondition , replacingthe roof, jacking up the Nev
<br /> towers , repairing rotted sills , and pouring controversy surrounding the four-story brick building in Greenwich Village where
<br /> new foundations where needed . Cyr figures he once lived . But " The Fall of the House of Poe " is no macabre dream within
<br /> that another $ 600 , 000 or so will be needed a dream . New York University ' s School of Law , which owns the last surviving
<br /> to finish the job , including restoring the Poe residence in Manhattan , announced plans last spring to raze the structure
<br /> altar , removing some of the tin walls that along with the rest of the block immediately south of Washington Square , clear-
<br /> were installed in the 1920s to hide cracked ing the way for school facilities .
<br /> plaster , and repainting the wood clapboard In early June , Michael Deas , a New York- based illustrator and the author
<br /> exterior of the church in its original color, a of The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe , launched a con - !
<br /> sort of earthy shade of spruce , tentious , no -frills Web site ( http : //nmc2 . itc . virginia . edu /cyclorama/poe/)
<br /> As a cultural center , the church regu - aimed at saving the house . The site encourages visitors to sign an electronic
<br /> larly hosts classical music concerts and protest letter that is forwarded automatically to key NYU administrators and ! 6 E
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<br /> French - language plays . Cyr talks of estab- First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton . " NYU wants to turn Greenwich Village and i. ; .
<br /> lishing music and dance festivals and per- Washington Square into their campus and quad , " Deas charges .
<br /> haps rekindling traditional Acadian fiddling. The university argues that Preserve Poe 's Nousel
<br /> All of the towns in the valley were once the house hasn ' t even been
<br /> Nesotbrktha ly his wannttdRsutltMtpt todemdhhIN tsv wtvhln[Msnhnsn tevdent
<br /> : d Edfst Allan Poet asemple it bttdbvII&I non wading at ES WtA Thtd Slseet. Ont block
<br /> like ours , / 1 " It' s
<br /> l he says . Its/ an agrarian village . 1I worthy of the landmark status wilidWsdsnpondovutls III mole CotemrtdtYvbR. j f
<br /> To Cyr , the cropland surroundingthe vil - afforded to most of Greenwich — Poe MainWillow it
<br /> it* m •VuOnlLtrnnlsets43tpudyttdwdpubl MdeM i
<br /> I stknondedt Will sd,d.mnl„e meet atudsldNSYk. Nett totally
<br /> 914t,IdpubhsSstd IN I 1
<br /> - RAVEN AND OTHER Isa EMS. tYe Iota udrnNubvsntissanthdott of Hsp msadltded I eF
<br /> dvnnt Ms plenmt. Hnt, teo.ppt narked cost it sit Hitt twpartent shot vanes, IndvdmtHs
<br /> lage is just as important as the church lend- Village . " The so - called Poe dissict sit. 9ht Cash ofAmon o.' plus ntmaaax °n eay° d MAU ptta r a Ira ti, - 1
<br /> ing a sense of isolation and belonging to the House has never preserved and hsantwmbaslst°�t . urterrttAmdth pMnt .p„_ ' '.
<br /> q ;
<br /> land . He ' s watched other Acadian villages does not now in any way pre- t;
<br /> lose their sense of identityas buildin s— serve an connection to Poe ' s WrAl
<br /> g Y � r�
<br /> boxlike houses and roadside businesses— time there , " says Lynne ' P .
<br /> r MAadcietrhdNO RS Awsh r I !. ' c.
<br /> �`I ih FJspa Mu° Mer/dAtedu_ - : VNvdAArrsd 5
<br /> have filled in the roadside fields , blurring Brown , NYU1 s associate vice too,
<br /> fum �,N� 1 . �.p• r ..40M. -- l.naME ; !�
<br /> the distinction between towns . If I had $ 10 president for government and t '
<br /> million , I ' d be buying farm land on each side community relations . " The
<br /> of Lille to keep it isolated , " Cyr says . building itself has been radi - _
<br /> Cyr and I walk around the outside of the cally altered over the years from the 19th -century structure it was . Maybe part
<br /> church and stand on the shoulder of the of a banister comes from the original structure . " ' S
<br /> y � -
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<br /> road . Even though its nearly May , a snow NYU has also argued that the six months or so in late 1845 through early 4
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<br /> bank is still drifted up against the church 's 1846 that Poe lived in the house weren 't significant in terms of the writer' s lit-
<br /> north side . (This is northern Maine , after erary output. Deas calls that contention just another example of NYU ' s " campaign
<br /> I,
<br /> all : ) ' We admire the towers and the triple of misinformation " to derail public opinion . "They are very shrewd , " he says , Z ( tiWkk
<br /> gables over the front doors , and Cyr talks of explaining that Poe re-edited and reprinted his most famous poem , " Raven , " I 4Y
<br /> The
<br /> plans to replace a pair of seven -foot-tall while in the house and worked on several important essays and short stories . 1*4
<br /> gilded angels atop the towers that were " NYU has minimized Poe 's connection to the building and the condition of the ; ; ;
<br /> rr
<br /> 4 *4
<br /> taken down about a decade ago . building. We've posted a picture of the house on line in its original condition . Next T : `:_ .
<br /> He glances up and down Route 1 . "With- to it is a picture of the house now . People can see the evidence for themselves . "
<br /> out the church , this would just be another Within a month of its launch , the Web site had forwarded more than 600
<br /> bend in the road , " he says . And without Don electronic protest letters . Meanwhile , NYU cleverly collected the addresses listed
<br /> j1
<br /> - Cyr , Lille could easily have become just on the letters - e its side of the debate . The
<br /> Y , y m I tter and e mailed each correspondent
<br /> another forgotten chapter in the quiet history upshot? While Deas fears " a midnight demolition " and hopes an outraged pub-
<br /> of Acadian Maine . ® lic might prevent it , Brown says NYU is considering " facade retention , " even
<br /> - --- --- - -- - - -- though tearing down the house remains the likeliest course . —Don Oldenburg44
<br /> g g g
<br /> Wayne Curtis is a freelance writer in Eastport ,
<br /> Maine .
<br /> SEPTEMBER / OC: TOBER 2000 19
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