Wellfleet, Massachusetts (AP) – Just before falling into Cape Cod Bay It was demolished due to erosion.
The possibility of a collapse of the 5,100-square-foot home threatened an oyster bed in nearby Wellfleet Port, but the debate over its removal left it wobbling at the edge of a mass of sand for months. However, on Monday, a heavy machine got caught up in, deleting a housepiece and carrying the truck away. By Tuesday, only those concrete slabs, chimneys and generators remained.
“On the other hand, it’s sad because it was a beautiful home that became a landmark for the place,” said John Cobbler, a member of the Wellfleet Environmental Committee. “On the other hand, I’m pleased that it’s gone. It’s a great relief for our town and our environment.”
Cobbler said the attorney for owner John Bonomi submitted a request to town last week to remove the house. Bonomi’s attorney declined to comment on the Associated Press.
On Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, a house on a sandy chunk overlooking the beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts is being destroyed (AP Photo/Andre Muggiati)
The house was built in 2010 on the bay side of the Cape Cod Peninsula. The original owners sought permission in 2018 to build a seawall to stop the erosion. The committee rejected Seawall due to unintended effects on the beach and concerns about how it would carry the bay’s nutrients. They also questioned whether it would save the house.
In 2019, New York lawyer Bonomi bought the house for $5.5 million.
Meanwhile, erosion has progressed. A report prepared for Wellfleet last year said that the house could fall into a bluff within three years, sending the remains to the town’s port where shellfish farmers grow oysters of the same name, and the Environment Committee said. They estimated they asked for a plan to delete the house.
Ruins of houses on a sandy chunk overlooking the beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts (AP Photo/Andre Muggiati) on Tuesday, February 25th, 2025
Just a week before the demolition, strong winds hit the cape for three days, exposing more concrete pillars of the house.
Bonomi’s lawyer told the committee at a January meeting that it had been sold to the House to a rescue company that would not fund the removal of the House. However, town conservation agents noted that no transfer of the act was recorded at the time, and neither did check records on Tuesday nor found a record of the sale.
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