Hotel? in Weirs
 

I went to the Weirs yesterday to take some photos of where Look Off Rock used to be and to see what I could still see through the growth. I think I will attempt looking up at it from the tracks next time. I can barely see the stairs that went down and the wall foundation near the road has fallen in since my last visit.
Here's a new question for you all.
In riding around the Weirs, I found what had to be an old hotel on Doe Street which is just off Tower St. It is now a private residence, but you can clearly see that it still has a HUGE vent fan from a commercial kitchen built into the side of the building and it just has that hotel look to it. There are some other out buildings that make me think it was.
Does anybody have any information on this or some pictures of it in it's heyday? The view had to be great from there as well.

I'm assuming that's 59 Doe Ave.

That used to be a Methodist Parsonage and was built ~ 1920.

The land was part of the Doe Farm and there should be a cemetery very near or on that property. It was purchased by a developer in 1907 and the first deed that mentions the buildings (house and outbuildings) is in 1916. (Ref: Belknap County Registry of Deeds, Book 147, Pg. 501.)

http://www.visionappraisal.com/photo...0/00/39/59.jpg

One more thing - It must have been part of the United Methodist Church that's on Tower Street.

That brings us full circle to this post, by our McDude: HERE with info about the Methodist Campgrounds...

The entire thread on The Weirs can be viewed HERE.

Was it...
 

Was it ever a hotel or restaurant? That large exhaust type fan was installed much later and I can't imagine that a parsonage would have use for one of those.
Thanks so much for the info!
Another "mystery" mostly solved.
You folks sure are quick!

I don't believe it was ever a hotel or restaurant because the deeds always mention it as being a parsonage. Anything is possible, but I'm basing this on my research of plans, deeds, and mortgages I could find online with Belknap County.

The Methodist used to (and still do in some areas) have circuits they travel each year or each summer, as was the case with this group in the Weirs. The parsonage is generally where the "big wigs" would stay. This area is part of the Methodist Circle that McDude refers to in his wonderful thread about the history of Weirs Beach.

There is mention of the large flue you're wondering about in some of the early deeds - as far back as 1947 - but the place is still called a "parsonage". Since the place was probably used the most in the summer and there was no air conditioning, the next best thing would be a vent (flue) from the kitchen. That's not an uncommon feature in many 'institutional' kitchens from that era.

Hope this makes sense.
:)

Lawrence Manor
 

The building was definitely once a hotel or restaurant. It was called Lawrence Manor. Here is an ad from the 1947 Lakes Region Association's Where To guide. Sometime around the 1960's or early 1970's it went out of business. In the late 1970's there was briefly a fancy French restaurant there, but they were unsuccessful. In the late 1980's I remember touring the property when it was for sale, it was huge inside, but in very poor condition, so we didn't buy it. The 1947 advertisement notes that there were 40 acres of "fertile fields land wooded land" but in the late 1980's the property consisted of only about 3 acres. Later our business rented one of the outbuildings for storage for a few years. The current owners have done a nice job of restoration on the outside but I haven't a clue what the inside now looks like.

I wish there was a "thank you" button here - nice post BB. Thanks for shedding more light on the mystery!

+1 on Argies post. I know about the other activities but can somebody tell me what quoits is?

Quoits are round metal "donuts", same material as horseshoes, and similarly played like horeshoes.

Ms. Sorensen owned the property from 1947-1955. She sold it to Carl Davis and if I'm understanding another warrantee from 1956 correctly that Mr. Davis had sold the property to George and Mary Spanos - the current owners of the Shalimar (Sadly, George passed away a few years ago.) Very nice people.

The property was sold by the Spanos' in 1970 to Clifford Jones, Jr., and it appears he sold it in 1981 to a developer. It changed hands to the current owner in 1998 and is noted to be in "as is" condition. In 1998 it was purchased for far less money than it was purchased for in 1970!

was it ever a hotel or restaurant?
 

I believe it was. That looks like the former Manor Restaurant which was part of Brickyard Mountain Inn in the early '70s. Served French cuisine under the renowned chef Elias MacQuaid (ha!).

That explains the 'Brickyard' reference I saw in the deeds - but it was never called an inn or manor or anything of the sort...

the former Methodist Parsonage
 

hello all, I am late to the discussion, discovered it April 2011. Just want to clear something up. The Methodist Parsonage was at 27 Doe Ave, next house down from the old French Manor Restaurant of the 1970's. I lived in the parsonage for 20 years, bought it from the church in 1982. The church fathers wanted to sell it because it was impossible to heat, having no insulation beyond lathe and plaster. I bought the parsonage and had insulation blown in and then was quite cozy. It was a wonderful house to live in. The original maple floors were there in the kitchen and dining room. Fortunately I knew a gentleman who had worked on repairs in the house, in his youth, and he was able to tell me what the rooms looked like and were used for when the pastor and his family lived there. I sold the house in April 2002 and still miss it. Have no idea who owns it now, but it was gutted last year and remodeled, not attractively in my opinion, and went back on the market. btw, the house was built in 1901. Thanks for listening!

Old Postcard of Lawrence Manor
 

Here's an old postcard of Lawrence Manor with a nice view of the Lake. I believe the property is currently for sale if anyone is interested.

The Manor Restaurant
 

Interesting thread. That was indeed a restaurant during the early 70s called "The Manor Restaurant". It was owned/operated by the Brickyard Mountain Inn and I was there at the opening, hired as the "Maitre d'Hotel" fresh out of Belknap College. Elias McQuade was the head chef and I can still remember his coquilles st jacques and chocolate mousse. We both lived on the premises (there were apartments upstairs). Didn't last long, perhaps a year or 18 months.

Welcome...and thanks for finding us...
 

Please share more memories of your time here...Do you have any photos from then?

Unfortunately I don't have any photos from that period.
I do remember that we had a lot of local visitors to the restaurant. One of my favorites was Ed Sanel (Sanel auto parts of Manchester) who would bring 8 or ten of his friends for dinner. He was a very good tipper :-). My boss was the Food and Beverage manager at the Brickyard and his was Rusty McClear (before he transformed Meredith).

My fond memories of Belknap and the time that I worked for the Brickyard is what brought my wife and I back to the area when we bought a cottage at Lake Shore Park in Gilford.... then we retired and moved to Arizona. I don't miss New England winters at all - today's forecast here is 25 below 100. :laugh:

1956 Lawrence Manor Ad
 

Below is an ad for Lawrence Manor from the 1956 Weirs Beach Chamber of Commerce booklet. The property reopened in late 2020 as the Craft Beer Xchange, Home of the Witches Brew Pub.

Umm, there is a Thanks button. Isn’t that close enough?

Thanks button
 

I don't think we had a "Thanks" button in 2009.