Beams from Demolished Watertown Building Have a Bright Future

Beams reclaimed from the old Circle Supply building on Bacon Street in Watertown.

When the old Circle Supply building on Bacon Street was torn down, the demolition company found some diamonds among the rubble – old pine wood beams. 

While the wood looked in rough shape, it was just what Cambridge-based Longleaf Lumber wants. The beam are made from heart pine that came from the southern longleaf pine forest and was brought up to construct the building, said Marc Poirier, co-owner of Longleaf.

“The building seems to go back to the 1920s, but the wood looks older,” Poirier said. “It is beautiful, dense beams. They have a lot of damage but we will saw off the waste and end up with the pearls inside.”

The Circle Supply building was torn down and the wood used as frames was saved.

The heart pine is prized because it is rot and insect resistance, but it has been harvested out of existence, except for some groves that have been preserved.

The wood goes to the company’s mill in Berwick, Maine, where the good parts of the wood will be turned into six different grades of flooring and paneling, said Longleaf employee Joseph Poirier.

Longleaf’s products have been used in many area restaurants, bars and other establishments. You can see some reclaimed oak paneling at Fastachi in Coolidge Square. They also provided heart pine that was used build the bar top at Oleana in Cambridge, and the oak floors at the Harvard Square Starbuck’s also came from Longleaf.

Reclaimed wood is turned by Longleaf Lumber into paneling like this.

The products not only look good, but they provide the businesses with LEED credits for green building – plus it is locally sourced, Marc Poirier said.

“They can get LEED points for tax credits,” he said. “They want to source materials from the tightest area. If they get it from Watertown and sell it in Boston that is about as environmentally solid as can be.”

The 12,000 board feet of wood will probably yield about 4,000 board feet of usable flooring and paneling, Marc Poirier said.

“That is enough for more than one floor, tables, and paneling,” he said.