In-depth coverage
The Springfield News-Sun digs into important stories about historic preservation, including stories on Memorial Hall and a fire that destroyed a home in the East High Street Historic District.
The Fercliff Cemetery board of trustees will meet today to discuss the fate of the old superintendent’s house designed by a famed local architect and on a short list to be considered for historic protection.
The 1890s home on Plum Street has sat empty for more than a decade and has fallen into disrepair.
The board has voted to demolish the home, according to the information presented at the Springfield Historic Landmarks Commission meeting Monday night, but trustees have agreed to further discussion before taking any action.
No demolition permit application has been filed with the city.
“We’re ready for it to come down,” Trustee Chet Walthall said while touring the property Monday. “It has been a nice place, a great place … and 10 years ago it was probably more repairable.”
For the past seven years, the board had an agreement with the Turner Foundation to look after the property, which the board said didn’t happen.
“We had a seven-year agreement with them. It’s expired and they didn’t fulfill their charge,” Walthall said.
Turner Foundation Executive Director John Landess declined to comment and neither party would provide details of the agreement.
Cemetery Superintendent Stan Spitler said the house wasn’t touched during that time, the heat wasn’t on and rot set in due to water damage from the roof.
“It’s in very unhealthy condition,” he said.
Water damage could be seen on Monday’s tour in several rooms, including the kitchen where much of the ceiling has come down. Animal droppings also were present throughout the house.
“Unfortunately when you let something sit it takes a lot more money to put it back together,” Spitler said.
The board has gotten estimates for repairs that range from $300,000 to $500,000, Walthall said, while demolition would likely cost about $20,000.
Trustee Ski Schanher, who has published a book on the history of Ferncliff, said he was upset when he saw the condition of the house recently.
“I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’’ he said. “I didn’t know.”
The board is working with Turner Foundation historian Kevin Rose to examine options, trustees said.
“Kevin is going to address the trustees, express his concerns and we’ll listen,” Schanher said.
Rose couldn’t comment on the past agreement or any decisions being made about the building, but said from a historical perspective it’s a significant structure in Springfield.
“It’s one of the few remaining works by Charles Creager,” he said, and one of only a handful of residences known to be designed by Springfield’s most noted hometown architect. “We get people visiting Springfield to see his work.”
When asked why the foundation now wants to save the property, the trustees said they weren’t sure.
The nonprofit Turner Foundation, which reported assets of $47.9 million on its most recent IRS filing, gave more than $61,000 to the cemetery in 2013. It isn’t specified if that donation was associated with the upkeep of the superintendent’s home.
The Springfield Cemetery Association, the nonprofit that owns Ferncliff, reported total assets of about $29 million for 2013 on its IRS filing.
The house sits on 1.18 acres that Spitler said could easily be sold as cemetery plots. Some families who have plots just over the fence have expressed interest in buying more space.
Creager, who was born and raised in Springfield, also designed St. John and St. Raphael churches, along with the old city building that now serves as the Heritage Center of Clark County.
The stone home at Ferncliff appears to made of the same Amherst sandstone as some of those structures, according to Rose.
“Amherst is a very rare material in Springfield,” he said.
The house isn’t a registered local historic landmark, but the Springfield Historic Landmarks Commission earmarked it for possible designation on a list released in April.
“It’s a very stately house,” commission member Melissa Tuttle said. “You don’t drive around Springfield and see many residences built with that stone. You’d probably be looking at a million dollars to build that now.”
The landmarks commission members discussion the house at their meeting Monday night and approved a resolution to reach out to the cemetery board to open up a dialogue about options.
“That house does not need to be demolished,” Tuttle said.
She hopes the Ferncliff board will consider other options.
“I would hate (to think), having made that list, that there is now a rush to demolish something,” because they don’t want to go through the landmarks review process.
Tom Heaphey, a local business owner who has worked in building restoration, including for the city of Columbus, said the house isn’t in horrible shape and could be saved.
“I’ve seen a lot of rescued old structures, and I’ve seen a lot worse,” he said after touring it Monday.
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