Former hot spot fails to get bids
MILFORD – Presidents from Gerald Ford to George W. Bush got their hair cut there, as did more presidential wannabes than most people can remember, but this unique bit of political history wasn’t enough to find a buyer.
The Milford Oval building that for 30 years held Joe Swiezynski’s barber shop, a near-obligatory stop for Republican presidential hopefuls, was sold at auction Monday back to the bank that held its mortgage.
The four-unit building on the north side of the Oval was sold to BlueStone Capital LLC. for $110,000. The property, owned by Swiezynski’s son, Joseph L. Swiezynski II of Amherst, was appraised at $244,800.
Bruce Messier, auctioneer for James R. St. Jean, said $16,334 worth of back taxes and water and sewer charges are owed on the property.
The senior Swiezynski, who died in 2002, was the husband of Margaret Swiezynski, a longtime local GOP activist who died in 2000. Swiezynski was known as “Mr. Republican,” and Joe’s Barber Shop was often called “the closest thing to a political salon in Milford.”
Swiezynski cut hair here for more than 50 years and was in this building for nearly three decades.
Although his hair-cutting clientele was male, the appeal of the presidential primary was such that Barbara Bush once sat in his chair when she was first lady.
The building has two storefronts, including one occupied by Juliet’s Art Shoppe, and two apartments on the second floor.
The building was built around 1900 and overlooks the Souhegan River, one of several riverside buildings that Bill McKinney, the town’s commercial building inspector, said might have serious foundation problems.
There were three bidders and the auction lasted only a few minutes.
Kathy Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 21, or kcleveland@cabinet.com.
