Historic Home In Disrepair Demolished On Atlantic Avenue

A historic home on Atlantic Avenue that had been in disrepair for years was demolished Monday morning.

"This is heartbreaking," said Pam McGrady, who lives nearby and attempted unsuccessfully to stop the demolition.

The house at 12 Atlantic Avenue was built in 1900, according to the town assessor's records, making it 125 years old and a contributing structure to Nantucket's National Historic Landmark. It was part of the so-called New Guinea neighborhood, where Nantucket's Black and Cape Verdean residents lived during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The demolition on Monday, however, was never reviewed by Nantucket's Historic District Commission, which typically reviews and votes on whether to allow a historic structure to be torn down. Instead, the demolition was ordered by Nantucket Building Commissioner Paul Murphy, who stated, "I have the authority under Section A301-4 Historic District Commission, Acts 1970, Chapter 395 Section 5 (c), to order the removal of the structure. It was clearly unsafe and in a state of collapse."

Nantucket's preservation planner, Holly Backus, said it would still go before the HDC during an upcoming meeting to review the demolition after the fact.

The house had been vacant and in a state of disrepair for many years. As those signs of deterioration became more evident, the Historic District Commission in July 2021 issued a citation notice to the former owner, Tynes Investments LLC, that it violated the town's minimum maintenance bylaw. Adopted by the town in 2004, the bylaw requires the owners of contributing historic structures to take "at least the minimum steps necessary to prevent the deterioration" of foundations, exterior walls, roofs, chimneys, and support structures. The bylaw is often referred to as the town's mechanism to combat the so-called "demolition by neglect" of historic buildings.

It's unclear if there was any follow-up to the 2021 violation notice by the town or HDC. Still, the new property owner, 12 Atlantic LLC, which acquired the parcel in 2023 for $1.72 million, was fined $600 for a minimum maintenance bylaw violation in July 2025.

The house was previously owned by Lindsey Butler, and before that, by Mattie Pina - individuals remembered fondly by the neighbors who watched the structure get torn down on Monday.

The limited liability company that now owns the property is registered to Elisa Campbell, of Clarymont, DE. The LLC is represented on Nantucket by island resident Linda Williams, who emphasized that the building commissioner had ordered the structure to be demolished.

"We were given one week to demolish the building with the proper permits by the town or further legal action would have taken place," Williams said. "Paul Murphy issued an emergency demolition building permit based on the deterioration of the structure and ruled that it was a public safety hazard. The front wall had imploded into the interior and the roof was caving in. There was no intact floor or walls on the interior. This was unsalvageable and unable to be moved. I was able to obtain all of the disconnects and other permits and was able to get the building down in one week with the cooperation of several town departments. An application has been made, as of last Friday, to the HDC to document the demolition with two dozen pictures of the structure and the history that was available. This was done to establish a record of the structure. The new structure is proposed replicate to great extent the former structure."

Those plans for the replacement structure have not yet been filed.