SOUTHBOROUGH - Officials at Fay School have drawn up plans for a bright and environmentally friendly future for the campus, but to do so the school would pull down what historic preservation advocates consider important parts of the the town's past.

Two houses built around the turn of the last century would be torn down to make way for new dormitories at the junior boarding school, while a third one may be removed in the future, said Fay's Head of School Steve White.
The changes are part of the school's master plan, a 20-year vision for improving and modernizing the school. The first part of the plan calls for new dormitories, the addition of kindergarten and pre-K programs, a sewage treatment plant, a wellness center, and changing the traffic flow through campus during drop off.
Another goal of the master plan is to create an environmentally friendly campus. Plans are in the works to use solar panels to heat water and possibly to generate energy that will be put back into the grid, White said.
``Global warming is a big deal to our kids,'' White said. ``They are asking what we are doing in our master plan to help.''
To make room for the changes, the school has plans to remove two houses on land that the school purchased a year and a half ago - the Kidder House and what the school calls North House.
Those houses have a historic link. The smaller arts-and-crafts style North House, built in 1900, was used as the servants quarters for the larger home.
A third house, the Goodnow House, sits on the other side of campus. Built in 1819, the Federal-style house built by Jonas Goodnow currently serves as faculty housing.
The Kidder House, built in 1891 by Charles Archibald Kidder represents a rare example of a mixture of styles - shingles and Queen Anne - said Southborough Historical Commission member Kate Matison.
While most of the other older buildings in the area would be considered historic because they are part of a collection of houses in Southborough Center, Kidder House would qualify for the National Register of Historic Places on its own accord, Matison said, citing a survey of historic structures finished in 2000.
Along with the architectural significance, the Kidder House was built by one of the important families in Southborough during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Charles Kidder was a prominent stock broker who helped found Kidder Peabody, which survived until 1994 when it was bought by Paine Webber. The Kidders built their house in the area west of the town center, and were quickly followed by other prominent families: the Choates, the Burnetts and the Gardners.
The Choate house sits on land owned by St. Mark's School and the Burnett House also survives. Losing the Kidder House would be a blow, Matison said, for the preservation of the town's history.
``For the web of family interrelationships to be disrupted by pulling down one of the houses would be so sad,'' Matison said.
The school has offered to let someone move one or both houses to another location. Matison said that would remove it from the location where it has links to other buildings from that era.
Just because the house could qualify for the national register, or even if it was on the list, does not mean the school cannot tear down the building, both sides agree.
Finding some way to preserve the house, such as building around it, would be something Matison said she would like to see. The Massachusetts Historical Commission sent the school a letter requesting they try to preserve the house but reusing it in combination with new construction.
White said the school looked at ways to use the building, but said it is in bad repair, and contains harmful substances such as lead paint and asbestos. School officials want to build dorms that would fit the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council.
``This building, we couldn't work with,'' White said. ``To try to restore the old building into something where children live and is LEED certified would be difficult.''
Both the Kidder and North houses use oil for heating, which contributes to carbon dioxide levels, said Fay spokesman Paul Larsen.
North House sits right in the path of Fay's planned new entry and driveway. The internal road is designed to reduce traffic backup on Main Street during the morning drop-off time, White said.
Another reason school officials are not anxious to use Kidder House as a dorm is memory of an older house that burned down in the mid-1970s, White said. No one was injured, but school officials and trustees decided to move away from use of older buildings to house students.
As for the Goodnow House, specific plans have not been drawn up for that area of campus, White said.
``Goodnow is on the other side of campus, it is not part of this project,'' White said. ``I would argue it is much more important to the town of Southborough. It is much older and sits right on Middle Road.''
The house does sit in an area, however, that the school has considered building a new kindergarten/pre-K building, White said.
Fay officials agreed to meet this week with representatives from both the Southborough Historical Commission and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
``We are going to meet in hopes of finding an approach that works for everybody,'' Larsen said.
Later in October, the school's master plan will go before the Planning Board for approval.
Charlie Breitrose can be reached at 508-490-7461 or