An ambitious plan to move a historic 1899 house through the heart of Augusta appears to be moving forward smoothly after local developer Richard Parkhurst and Kennebec Savings Bank signed final agreements last week.

On Monday, contractors began preparing a 6,200-square-foot, three-story historic house at 15 Western Ave., designed by Maine architect John Calvin Stevens, for the massive relocation project. Parkhurst plans to move the house onto a new foundation on Chandler Street, about a third of a mile northeast of its current site.

Parkhurst and Kennebec Savings Bank, the owner of the land underneath 15 Western Ave., signed a final deal Friday for removal of the building, which the bank had planned to demolish to make way for a new five-story office building before Parkhurst made a last-ditch offer.

The bank will pay Parkhurst to remove the building from the site, and it sold the lot on Chandler Street to Parkhurst, Kennebec Savings Bank CEO Andrew Silsby said in an email Tuesday.

Sale and purchase prices were not disclosed.

“I don’t expect anything but a good result,” Parkhurst said. “We’re determined to make this happen as effectively and efficiently as we can. (Bank leaders have been) great partners on this particular project. I think it will go on time, and I think they’ll be happy with my work, and I’ll be happy with getting the house moved.”

Parkhurst has secured two contractors for the move: JF Scott Construction of Winthrop to prepare the building and new foundation, and Copp & Sons of Cumberland to complete the building move.

Copp & Sons specializes in moving buildings, but everyone else involved will wade into uncharted territory in moving such a large and historic building, Parkhurst said.

“It’s new territory for the bank, it’s new territory for me,” he said. “It’s been 25 years, probably, since the city has had a building moved. So it’s all new to them, the current staff there. It’s a new adventure, and we’re learning as we go. I think everyone’s being cautious not to make a mistake and support the process.”

The house, Parkhurst said, will need to be stripped of its nonhistoric additions, mostly in the rear, returning the building to its original 1899 design.

He said the building will need to be split in two, with the pieces to be joined once they reach their new site on the other side of Memorial Circle.

To complete the move, the wrap-around porch will also be removed and rebuilt, Parkhurst said, for which he will need approval from the Augusta Historic Preservation Commission.

Parkhurst said he will sink at least $500,000 of his own money into the project, between contractors and permits with the city and state.

One of those permits would allow the closure of Memorial Circle while trucks carefully carry the aging house most of the way around the roundabout to its new home.

Parkhurst said he is aiming for a move on a Sunday in late May.