Monday: Peeling paint may bring death sentence to 1865 house

To Bloomington city planners, it seemed unfair to force the owner of the 1865 John Brown house to pay nearly $37,000 to repair peeling lead paint. They agreed it made more sense to demolish the house.

But where some see needless expense, others see a tragically deteriorating 19th century farmhouse that offers a glimpse into the city's past. Brown, an English immigrant and farmer, fought with the 1st Minnesota regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg and was a constable in the pioneer community.

The city's Planning Commission recently granted the Brown house a reprieve from demolition while the owner applies to get the house on the National Register of Historic Places.

If that failed, under the commission ruling, Bethany International, a missionary college that owns the site, would be allowed to raze the house. The City Council will consider the matter today.

It is a clash of money and priorities, a conflict between honoring the past and dealing with today. Labeling a home "historic" can hamstring private owners who have to clear renovation with a city. Upholding historic standards is often expensive. And cities usually don't have money to help homeowners.

In Edina's Country Club neighborhood, which is on the National Register, some changes to homes require approval by a Heritage Preservation Board. Recently Eden Prairie has battled over a majestic arch-roofed barn that stands in the way of highway development.

Bonnie McDonald, executive director of the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, said many suburbs are just beginning to get interested in saving historic buildings.

Yet she called it "unconscionable" to "sacrifice a community's heritage based on an abatement question."

Bloomington City Planner Londell Pease said the city has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in restoring the city's premier historic buildings, Old Town Hall and the 1856 Gideon Pond House.

Choices must be made, he said. The city simply can't restore every historic building. Though owners of other historic homes have sometimes asked the city for help, he said there is no help to give.

The Brown and Pond houses are both farmhouses on open lots, Pease said.

"Do we need to have two or three of these?" he asked. "Is it appropriate to mandate substantial investment [by the owner] when there's no visible return?"

But, he said, Bloomington once had 300 farms. The Brown house is one of the oldest farmhouses left.

"If people don't know the history of Bloomington or care about it, an old house is just an old house," Granger said. "For us, trying to tell a story, trying to show kids where historic people lived and where farming was done, it's an important landmark and teaching tool."

In the late 1970s, a report on Bloomington historic properties suggested that the Brown and Pond houses, Old Town Hall and six other buildings get the city's most protected historic status. One of the nine has since been demolished, as have at least four of the six buildings that were in the second tier for historical importance.

This is the second time in three years that the Brown house has been at risk. In 2005, Bethany College wanted to raze the house. The City Council denied that application by a 4-2 vote.

The Brown house was built in 1865 with a 1907 addition. An early 1900s photo showed a simple but impressive two-story wood house with a first-floor porch that wrapped around two sides of the house.

Tim Freeman, the college's executive vice president, said the house was willed to the school decades ago. Despite the shabby appearance, it is structurally sound and is occupied by employees, who rent it from the college.

Freeman said he was new to Bethany in 2005 and didn't fully understand the house's background when the school applied to raze it for a development that later fell through.

This time, the application to tear down the house came after a neighbor complained about its flaking paint. The college was cited by the city in July and ordered to fix the problem. Freeman said estimates to abate the lead paint and repaint the house's exterior, as well as repair part of the roof, totaled $90,000. The college decided to try to revive the discussion about the house's future by again applying to raze it.

Moving the house, which was discussed in 2005, was last estimated to cost $291,000.

"If it qualifies for the National Historic Registry, we will do everything we can do to partner and get it into good condition," Freeman said. "I am open to finding out if we have something invaluable to the city of Bloomington."

Freeman said Bethany is investigating the possibility of college staff scraping and painting the Brown house. But he will not guarantee that the house will remain if it does not make the National Register. Then "it falls into the old house category," he said.

"We would not bring in a bulldozer the next day," he said. But, he added, "I can't make a commitment that Bethany is going to keep it no matter what."