NORWAY, Maine — The move of the historic Gingerbread House has been delayed until Friday morning.

Although crews had hydraulically lifted the wheels under the Gingerbread House around 11 a.m., James Merry of James Merry Building Movers in Scarborough, made the decision shorty after 3 p.m. to halt the process until the morning.

The decision was based on the belief that the house could be moved out to the street by dark but then tie up Main Street overnight.

“You either do it right or it’s best not to do it,” said Merry

Despite an occasional sprinkle and gusty winds, several hundred people had lined the street all day to see the iconic downtown landmark start its move up the street a few hundred yards.

Originally known as the Evans-Cummings House, the Gingerbread House and its octagonal tower has graced the entrance to Norway from the north since 1851.

The move is the culmination of the efforts of dozens of people and historic advocates who worked to save the crumbling building from demolition.

The house’s builder was Richard Evans, who was considered an important contractor who also built the Nash house on Pleasant Street, in Norway and the passenger railroad station at South Paris.

The three-story, 80- by 20-foot house is on the National Register of Historic Places, but its designation is expected to change once it is relocated outside of the Norway Historic District boundaries today.

Earlier this spring the building was placed on a steal-beam frame with giant truck tires, in order to pull the building to it’s new location, up the road about 300 yards, close to the mouth of the Pennessewassee Stream.