Just days before Christmas, bulldozers rolled onto Woodmont West Orchard in Hollis to remove the rickety structures of four historic buildings.

A gambrel barn, a farmhouse, a blacksmith’s shop and a cider press, had all seen better days and the majority were beyond repair.

The gambrel barn was the only structure, though rotting and roofless, that still held a flicker of life. However, over the summer months its condition worsened and consequently, it was removed along with the other dilapidated structures.

Given the cultural and historic value of the gambrel barn, it will be replaced with a facsimile as was done last year with the iconic ice house near the intersection of Route 122 and Plain Road. However, feelings are mixed among local artists who regularly painted and photographed the barn.

As a professional photographer, Madonna Lovett Repeta, of Bedford, photographed the Hollis orchard property and buildings a number of times.

She was initially drawn to them for their weathered appeal and described the barn and its neighbors as “old, forgotten structures with a past.”

“I found the run down appearance to be beautiful,” said Rebecca Marie Jarvis, a Brookline resident who has photographed the barn on two occasions. “It’s deteriorating structure made for a dimensional and visually stunning image.”

Jarvis was disappointed to see the barn go, but believes that the plan to rebuild it is a positive alternative.

“I liked the original barn because it was rustic,” she said. “If the new barn is able to incorporate that look I would certainly still photograph it even though I doubt that it will be as interesting without the qualities that age brought to the old barn.”

Photographer Dave Delay photographed the barn for it’s color, texture and character.

“A picture of the barn tells a story of days gone by,” he said.

Delay is one of many who has purposefully captured the aging of the barn on film. He photographed the barn every season for the past three years and, though he understands the structure was a safety hazard, was disappointed to see it destroyed.

Though the gambrel barn has been photographed on countless occasions, according to Doug Philipon it was actually painted more often than it was photographed.Philipon and local physician, Carol Robey, are students under Steve Previte, a well-known Hollis artist. Every Wednesday the class meets in downtown Nashua and the students have painted the barn several times.

“The site is important to anyone who lives in or knows Hollis,” Robey said. “It is very appealing in its color and placement. I regularly walk, run and bike around my home town and am particularly drawn to this place.”

The first painting Robey completed of the gambrel barn was a detailed composition. She later painted it in the winter months during a rapid painting exercise with Previte. She completed the painting within one hour.

Whether the barn was photographed or painted, the barn’s quiet beauty drew onlookers and artists. For many it held treasured memories of recent years.

Photographer Steve Lee often took his 6-year-old daughter down to the property for seasonal photo shoots. He carried his SLR camera and she toted her point-and-shoot. Without the barn, the father-daughter tradition will need a new setting.

For Lee, the reconstructed ice house does not draw his attention in the same way as the old structure and he does not anticipate the results of a new barn to be any different.

“I like the old broken structure,” he said. “It is more interesting to shoot old structures. I used to love the old broken ice house that almost fell into pieces into the pond and I don’t find the new ice house drawing my attention at all. I am sad it is gone.”

However, photographer Sandy Belanger, of Hollis, is anxious to see the structure rebuilt. Though the age of the barn had character and charm, she intends to continue to take photos of the new barn in the same way she takes photos of the new ice house.

“The removing of the old was not a matter of choice,” she said. “It was a matter of safety.”

Delay agrees that town officials did what they thought was best.

“I think it was long past repairing,” he said.

In the meantime, he will continue to photograph the Woodmont Orchard with the hopes that the west side of the property will remain a functioning apple orchard.