Hammond Castle loses its appeal: Gloucester zoning board says the museum needs a special permit to host weddings and events

Hammond Castle must ask the city for a special permit if it wants to keep hosting weddings and other private events. Gloucester's Zoning Board of Appeals turned down the museum's appeal on Thursday, Oct. 29, by a vote of 5 to 0, from the meeting video, and sided with the Building Commissioner, who ruled last month that event hosting is an "accessory use" that needs the board's permission.

Five members sat: Chair Joseph Parisi III, Lauren Norton, Peter Cannavo, Ronald Wilson and, on Zoom, Michael Nimon. The meeting ran 1 hour 37 minutes.

What happened

• The board voted 5 to 0, from the meeting video, against Hammond Museum Inc.'s appeal. The museum at 74 Hesperus Ave. now needs a special permit for events, and the board said it would likely grant one with conditions on crowd size and parking.
• A second story addition on Holly Street was approved 5 to 0, and the board decided a dormer on a Smith Street three family house does not need a special permit at all.
• A new house at 2 High Rock Terrace on Long Beach got two special permits, 5 to 0, after neighbors questioned the plan's lot coverage and height numbers.
• The Maplewood Avenue housing project, whose stormwater tanks went in about 4 feet too high, was pushed to Nov. 12 because the city's outside review had just arrived.
• Eastern Point Yacht Club's own request for an event hosting permit was continued to Dec. 10.

The Hammond Castle appeal

The museum's attorney said the Building Commissioner sent a letter last month, "kind of out of the blue," saying the castle lacked a special permit for hosting events. The museum asked him on Sept. 25 to withdraw it. He did not, and the museum appealed.

The attorney gave the board four reasons to overturn the ruling. Events are part of what a museum does, not an extra use, he said, pointing to Maritime Gloucester and the big Boston museums. The castle has hosted concerts, benefits and weddings since the 1940s, he said, showing a 1940 newspaper story about a Red Cross benefit, 1941 NBC radio broadcasts of organ concerts, a 1945 wedding and a 1946 concert that drew 300 people. The museum opened in 1930, and the 1950 zoning ordinance allowed a public museum by right in that district, so he argued the use is protected as a preexisting use under state law. He also said old building permits, including a 1980 permit for an addition to the serving area and tent permits going back to 1995, are too old to challenge under the state's six year rule, and that the museum is a nonprofit educational corporation protected by the Dover Amendment, a state law that limits how towns can zone schools and churches.

The city's assistant general counsel, speaking for the Building Commissioner, said renting the castle for weddings and large parties that have nothing to do with the museum's own programs is a customary accessory use, and the ordinance says such uses need a special permit. A concert now and then in 1946 is not the same as "upwards of 12 weddings a year" with tents on the lawn, he said. A tent permit covers a tent for a weekend, not a year round rental business, and a Dover protected institution can still use its land in ways the law does not protect.

The chair said the same letter went to several organizations in town and most chose to apply for the permit instead of appealing. "I don't think the board would deny a permit for this accessory use," he said. "However, it would give us the opportunity to place restrictions. Number of people, parking required, things like that."

What the neighbors said

Nobody spoke for the appeal. An attorney for an abutter said a special permit is the right tool to set limits on the number of events, hours and public safety, and that the museum "used to close down for a large portion of the year" but has become a year round facility.

A Hesperus Avenue resident who said he has lived next to the castle for 26 years handed in a petition signed by neighbors. When he moved in, he said, the museum was open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and closed for several months a year. Last year it drew 95,000 visitors, he said, with weddings, proms, corporate outings, concerts and holiday parties several nights a week. "Most of these late night events, they have functions ending after 11 p.m. The parking lot is loud until midnight," he said.

The museum's attorney answered that the castle still shuts down three months a year, that a fundraising gala and a wedding both raise money for a nonprofit, and that the Great Hall once held 300 people for a concert but is now limited to about 90 by the fire code. "Whether it's 300 people in the Great Hall for a concert, or it's 180 people on the back lawn, it's still 120 fewer people," he said. A board member said the difference is that the old events were indoors. "Now we've expanded outdoors with large tents that can hold hundreds of people. And I think that's where it's changed," he said.

Board members said there was not enough on the record to show how the use has changed over the decades, and that the special permit process is the way to sort it out with the neighbors. One member called the commissioner's letter "a reasonable interpretation of the current zoning" and said it is reasonable for residents "to have some throttle on these functions." Nimon said it was a difficult decision and that he hopes the museum comes back with a special permit request "that we can thoroughly vet with the neighbors, with the museum, with the city."

The motion to grant the appeal failed with all five members voting no.

Holly Street, Smith Street and Long Beach

A couple on Holly Street got a special permit to add a second story, a mudroom and a longer front porch to their ranch house. The chair said the lot is 55,000 square feet in a part of North Gloucester where the city set 80,000 square foot minimum lots when the sewer went in. No one objected.

On Smith Street, the owners of a three family house under full renovation asked to widen an existing rear dormer on both sides so that code compliant stairs fit on the third floor. The building department had told them they needed a special permit. Nimon asked whether the floor area was growing. It is not, the owner said, and the roof is not getting taller. The board voted that the change does not increase the building's nonconformity, so no permit is needed, and the owner can go back to the building department with a signed form.

At 2 High Rock Terrace, the owner's attorney asked to renew two special permits to tear down a 1975 house and rebuild it on a larger footprint. The board first approved the project in 2022, but the permit expired during years of Conservation Commission review. The deck has since been squared off and pulled back from the dune, and the whole house will sit on piles so the dune can grow back under it.

A Twilight Avenue neighbor and a Briarneck Avenue neighbor said the new plans list lot coverage of 32 percent, up from 29 percent in 2022, against a 30 percent limit, and that the average grade on the drawings is about 18 inches higher than before, which would raise the house in a neighborhood where views matter. The attorney said he is not asking for any new relief, so the building cannot legally go over 30 percent, and that the grade changed because the low deck corners in the dune grass were removed from the calculation. A board member said the board has no say over height under 30 feet. The two permits passed 5 to 0.

What was decided

• Hammond Museum Inc. appeal of the Building Commissioner's special permit requirement, 74 Hesperus Ave.: motion to grant the appeal failed, 0 to 5, from the meeting video. The commissioner's ruling stands.
• Holly Street second story addition, special permit: 5 to 0, from the meeting video.
• Smith Street dormer: found not to increase the nonconformity, no special permit needed, roll call with four yes votes heard and no votes against, from the meeting video.
• 2 High Rock Terrace, special permits to alter and expand and to demolish and rebuild: 5 to 0, from the meeting video.
• Continued to Nov. 12: 50R Maplewood Ave. (Bigelow Real Estate LLC), the Addison Street two family to three family conversion, and 81 Western Ave. Realty Trust, each 5 to 0, from the meeting video.
• Eastern Point Yacht Club, special permit for event hosting at 125 Eastern Point Blvd.: continued to Dec. 10, 5 to 0, from the meeting video, because the club hired a new attorney.
• Minutes of Oct. 8 and the consent agenda (chair to sign decisions for 103 Essex Ave., 18 Rogers St., 14R Becker Circle, 21 Walnut St. and 8 Angle St.): 5 to 0 each, from the meeting video.
• 2027 meeting calendar, with a Dec. 24 filing deadline moved to Dec. 23: 5 to 0, from the meeting video.

What happens next

• Hammond Castle can apply for a special permit. A hearing would be advertised, and neighbors could speak and could appeal the board's decision.
• Thursday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m.: the Maplewood Avenue stormwater change, the Addison Street conversion and 81 Western Ave. return. Parisi said he will be absent that night, so the board may be down to a bare quorum.
• Thursday, Dec. 10: Eastern Point Yacht Club's event hosting request.
• Written decisions on Thursday's approvals go out after the November meeting.

Where to find the records

• Notice of public hearing for the Oct. 29 meeting, with every address, map and lot.
• October 2026 Past Meetings, where the city posts the Zoom recording. Minutes will be posted in the Archive Center.
• Zoning Board of Appeals members.

Earlier coverage: Gloucester zoning board hears 7 new requests Thursday, including a Hammond Museum appeal (Oct. 28), the agenda for this meeting; and Gloucester housing project's stormwater tanks went in about 4 feet too high (Oct. 21), the Oct. 8 meeting.

How we did this: Cape Ann Current watched the meeting online on the city's recording. Votes are as heard on the recording and are labeled from the meeting video until the board's minutes confirm them. These are our meeting notes, not the board's minutes.