Apr. 26—The faint scent of ash mixed with debris and exhaust Tuesday morning as an excavator ripped through the back of 147-151 Main St. in downtown Keene, months after a five-alarm blaze displaced the building's residents and businesses.

As the brick facade of the historic structure crumbled, the excavator's metal teeth dragged mementos of what the fire at Cobblestone Ale House on Jan. 8 had destroyed.

A soot-covered basketball rolled from a pile of rubble. A purple floral scarf caught in twisted metal flapped in the wind. Furniture and clothing, including a lacrosse jersey with the number 42, fell from the second-story apartments as machinery ripped charred wood, mangled appliances, piping and wires from the wreckage.

Andrea Madison, who had worked at the Domino's Pizza in the building since 2000, watched the demolition with a pained look on her face.

"It's really, really, really sad," Madison said. "I spent almost half my life in that building, making pizzas, delivering pizzas."

Over her more than 20 years there, there were pregnancy, marriage and divorce announcements. The employees supported each other through family deaths and formed lasting bonds there, she said.

"I didn't think it was possible for this building to come down," Madison said, recalling when Main Street flooded in 2006, bringing water to Domino's doorstep. The staff continued delivering pizzas all the while, she said.

Though no one was seriously hurt in the blaze that started in the ale house's kitchen, the Keene Fire Department declared the building a total loss and estimated damage to exceed $1 million.

In February, the city's Historic District Commission — which is tasked with preserving Keene's heritage and regulating alterations of structures within the historic district — gave the go-ahead for the demolition of the nearly century-old structure. The Community Development Department issued the permit Friday.

Constructed in 1926 by Frank Occhipinti to house his shoe-making shop and First National Groceries, 147 Main St. accommodated various businesses over the years, according to the historical report city staff prepared for the Historic District Commission.

Throughout the 1950s, the block was occupied by The Red & White grocery store, a commercial credit shop and a doughnut shop, the report says, with the second story becoming apartments around that time.

The building also housed Handy Market, Goldberg's Deli & Café and the offices of the Minuteman Press over the years. At the time of the fire, the bar, Domino's and Piazza, a locally owned ice cream shop with another location in West Keene, occupied the structure.

After standing for so many decades, the square-frame brick building came down with ease. The excavator tore into the building around 9 a.m. By 10:30 a.m., it had cleared about a third of the building, leaving the brick wall along Davis Street wobbly without support.

"It doesn't take much to knock brick down," said Mike Pappas, who purchased the property from George Levine, of Massachusetts, after the fire. The owner of Pappas Contracting, the Keene-based construction company that also did the demolition work, Pappas said his family has owned the adjacent building, 143 Main St., for more than 80 years.

He said he is planning to construct a four- or five-story building, with businesses below and apartments above, at 147 Main St. and hopes to repurpose the usable brick, perhaps as trim along the windows or corners of the new structure.

"I'm not throwing away any brick. I'd like to use it in the next build," Pappas said. "I'm not saving any money doing it; I'm doing it for a little bit of aesthetics, a little bit of past history."

At the Historic District Commission meeting in February, he described the razing of the building as an opportunity for new development downtown, while also expressing sympathy for the history of the site.

"I'm going to go from having the ugliest-looking building on Main Street to hopefully having the best-looking building on Main Street," Pappas told The Sentinel on Monday. "The city hasn't had a new building go on Main Street in a long time."

A second excavator at the scene Tuesday sorted metal from the debris. Pappas said he will sell and recycle what scraps he can. The demolition is expected to take a couple of days, with cleanup lasting into next week or longer, he said.

Scott Wesley, a Keene native who lives within walking distance of 147 Main St. and came to photograph the demolition, said he heard a commotion the night of the fire. He said he grabbed his camera and rushed down the street that night, showing up outside just in time to see the windows explode as flames burst through the building.

Describing himself as a "happy-hour kind of guy," Wesley recalled how he could get a burger, fries and a beer at Cobblestone for about $6, and said he met famous Red Sox players there over the years.

"It's going to be missed," he said. "It was a good place."

Meanwhile, Emmett Johnson, 4, of Orford, watched the demolition from a bike that still has training wheels. Out of school for spring break, Emmett had gone for a bike ride with his grandparents, Sam and Karen Johnson, of Keene, who said they had often brought their grandson to Piazza when he would visit during summer bike rides down Main Street. Without the ice cream shop's downtown location, Emmett, who said his favorite flavor is chocolate, asked where he would get ice cream on these rides, his grandparents said.

Alexander Franco, a senior at Keene State College from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., also watched on.

"I've seen this building here since freshman year," Franco said. "Seeing it come down near graduation, it's weird."

He remembered visiting the bar and ice cream shop a few times, but said the loss of Domino's — one of the only places for college students to get late-night food — had affected him the most.

Madison, the general manager of the Domino's that was formerly there, said there are plans to open a new location on Island Street. But she said the demolition brings an end to a place that touched on many people's lives.

"This is really the end of this chapter," Madison said. "It's really, really heartbreaking."

Ryan Spencer can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1412, or rspencer@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @rspencerKS

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