AUGUSTA — It was all over quickly, in truth.

The 120,000-pound, three-story, 6,200-square-foot historic house that was at 15 Western Ave. for more than 125 years isn’t there anymore. At 7 a.m. Sunday, a truck transported the house, in two pieces, to its new address about one-third of a mile away, at 5 Chandler St.

In all, the 1899 John Calvin Stevens-designed house rode on the back of a Copp & Sons Building Movers truck for only about an hour. The second half of the house was moved in about 20 minutes.

Richard Parkhurst, the man who funded the move and came up with the idea, said he wasn’t nervous in the half-hour before Copp & Sons began the drive. Months of planning had taken place. At this point, he said, there was nothing to worry about.

“I’ve gone past the move,” he said. “I’m already thinking about the next part, about renovations.”

Down the street, Central Maine Power crews temporarily removed a power line to allow the house to fit underneath and move toward Memorial Circle. Police shut down the rotary and surrounding areas to vehicle traffic.

The move had been in the works since a January meeting of the Augusta Historic Preservation Commission, where Kennebec Savings Bank, the owner of the property surrounding 15 Western Ave., proposed demolishing the building to make way for a new five-story office building and associated parking lot. The bank hopes to begin construction July 1.

Parkhurst, who attended that meeting, made a public bid to buy the building from the bank.

It was a long-shot effort to save the house, but this Maine architect-designed building was history, and it deserved saving, he said.

Parkhurst and bank leaders agreed to a deal in February for the acquisition of the building, and Parkhurst got to work securing contractors, permits and other approvals from state agencies. Meetings on the move continued right up until last week.

The move itself was a feat of engineering. Copp & Sons Building Movers propped the 60-ton house on a dozen massive steel beams. The house was split in half to deal with its weight and size. It will be reconnected in the coming days using what Parkhurst called a clever slotting system, designed by Copp & Sons.

The only hiccup was a popped tire on the truck as it left Memorial Circle. After a brief pause, and gasps from onlookers, the truck continued.

More than 100 people watched from the sidewalks as the building moved down Western Avenue, around Memorial Circle and onto the Chandler Street lot, where the house will be connected and placed on its new foundation Tuesday or Wednesday, Parkhurst said.

“We knew there was going to be a crowd,” an Augusta police officer told one onlooker. “Didn’t know it was going to be a Fourth of July parade crowd.”

Augusta resident David Robinson was a patient of the optometrist’s office that used to occupy the building. He said he’s been disappointed there hasn’t been much activity in recent years at the John Calvin Stevens house and hopes Parkhurst’s move rejuvenates it as “one of the treasures” of Augusta.

Josh Wright, too, remembered when the building was an office. His young nephew, Jayden, couldn’t remember anything occupying the building; it sat empty for years before the bank’s demolition proposal.

“I’m glad they’re saving it,” Robinson said. “It’s one of the only remaining from the row of beautiful houses that used to run up the avenue.”

After the smooth move of the first half, the crowd thinned to about 60 people watching the second half of the building make the trip. Parkhurst walked behind the slow-moving truck with workers from Copp & Sons, smiling in the sun.

Once both halves were in their new lot, Parkhurst walked over to his wife, Janet.

“Let’s go have some breakfast,” he said.