Residents push to save Wayzata historic home from development

An 111-year-old house in Wayzata built by one of the lakeside town's first residents and leaders could be torn down to make way for a subdivision if no one buys it this summer.

A group of residents is pushing to save the house, built in 1904 by Thomas Wise — a boat maker who once worked for railroad pioneer James J. Hill and went on to help lead the growing town in the 1880s. More than a century after his two-story house was built, it remains on a densely wooded lot some 300 yards from Lake Minnetonka and is significant, local preservationists say, not just for the architecture but because of who lived there.

"We're losing our heritage," said Merrily Borg Babcock, who lives in a home also built in 1904 in the neighborhood, where two homes from the era have been torn down. "Even though they aren't grand and glorious Summit Avenue homes [in St. Paul], they're modest, country homes. They're important to the evolution of this town."

This month, developer K.C. Chermak, president of Plymouth-based Pillar Homes, presented plans to remove the house and subdivide the less-than-an-acre site for three houses. After hearing residents' pleas to save the Wise house, the city's Planning Commission delayed taking action on the plans to see if the historic house and more of the site's trees could be saved.

Last week, after Chermak told the city the house could be saved if a buyer moved it, the Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of plans with the condition that he follow a tree protection plan and notify the city if efforts to move the Wise house fail.

The plans now go to the City Council as soon as May 5. A buyer would have 45 to 60 days after the council's approval to save the house.

"It hopefully will stay in the same neighborhood [where] it was built," Babcock said.

Chermak, a Wayzata resident, said he's had almost 30 permits in the city and wants to appease fellow residents' concerns. He is working to sell the Wise house for a nominal fee.

"It would be exciting if we could pull it off," he said. "I'm a community member and if there's a way to be creative, I'm open to it."

His project would subdivide 0.7 acres off Central Avenue S. and Wise Avenue into three lots. To save the Wise house, a buyer would need to move it in Wayzata, likely to a lot with a newer home that could be torn down. Chermak said that the three-bedroom house can't stay on the site because it doesn't have a foundation and the subdivision then wouldn't meet city variances. The house could be picked up on hydraulic dollies and moved, he said.

After serving in the Civil War, Wise moved to St. Paul and then came to Wayzata in 1876 to work for Hill. Settlers had started moving there in the 1850s, but it began to take off with the arrival of the railroad. Wise left to start Wise Boat Works where the Wayzata Yacht Club is now located.

But he wasn't just a prominent businessman. He also became one of the first city leaders when Wayzata became an official village in the 1880s. He was appointed its first street commissioner before there were even streets, then the city's lamp lighter and then president of the village board.

In 1904, Wise built the house, where his family lived until 1935. Since then, it hasn't been altered externally.

"It stands as one of the historic homes in the town," Stemmer said.

It's one of 43 homes the Wayzata Historical Society awarded as the city's Centennial homes. It's one of six houses left from 1904, according to the historical society; the oldest house dates to 1862.

"It's just very characteristic of the 1900s cottage house," said Sue Sorrentino, who's on the city's Heritage Preservation Board and historical society board. "The next two months are very important."

In Chermak's plans, about a dozen of the site's 31 trees would be removed to make way for the homes on lots, all less than a quarter of an acre, though he told the city that plans were revised to save trees. The homes will fit in the neighborhood architecturally, he said, and are likely to be custom-built ramblers or two-story homes.