Car hits Gingerbread House [Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine]

Oct. 24--NORWAY -- The 1851 Gingerbread House was struck Tuesday afternoon by a car that rolled backward across Main Street, blowing a hole in the cinder-block wall under the four-story turret.

No one was injured, police officer Kyle Hladik said.

Hladik said Brandon Villafane, 30, of Hebron parked a Subaru station wagon at Norm's Trash to Treasures and failed to set the emergency brake. The vehicle rolled backward, crossed Main Street just below Butters Park, crossed a lawn and hit the cinder blocks.

Fortunately, no one was driving on Main Street at the time, Hladik said.

He said the crash blew a 2- by 4-foot hole in cinder blocks under the turret at one corner of the house. Parts of the brick veneer over the blocks were also damaged.

The rear hatch of the car had major damage. There will be no citation issued to the driver, he said.

Andrea Burns of Norway Downtown, the organization leading the effort to revitalize Norway's historic Main Street, said the 80- by 20-foot, two-story house itself was not damaged.

She said Villafane is insured and the insurance company contacted Friends of the Gingerbread House, owners of the building, within several hours of the accident.

Burns described Villafane as being "mortified" by the incident.

The Gingerbread House has been undergoing renovations since it was moved farther west on Main Street in 2011 to save it from demolition.

[email protected]

___

(c)2013 the Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine)

Visit the Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine) at www.sunjournal.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services