Life near the park
So let’s say you own a building that is a registered historic landmark. However, the property that your building sits on will be very valuable to a developer in the near future. The problem is your land cannot be fully developed due to your historic building. You are not allowed to knock it so what to do?
Well apparently the owner of the Duncan Manor in McClean County outside of Bloomington / Normal near Towanda has found the solution. He is going to let the building sit and rot to death. Never mind that the building is considered to the one of the finest examples of Italianate Architecture in Central Illinois. Never mind that the house dates back to 1875. Never mind that the house had quite the imposing presence on Route 66 for many many years. Nope, the owner has decided to forsake all of that and let the building slowly decay until it will be unfixable.
Well how can this happen you might say? Apparently Landmark Staus simply means you cannot tear it down unless you show that it must be torn down for safety reasons. However, it does not force the owner to maintain the property? How can that be you might ask? Well, most cities - including Bloomington and Normal - have provisions in city ordinaces that could force a building owner to maintain their property. However, the Duncan Manor is not located within any city limits. Instead it is located in McClean County. The county does not have provisions in place to force an owner to fix the property.
So the Duncan Manor, which anyone who has traveled down I-55 more than once would recognize, has deteriorated badly. The front porch has collapsed. The windows are mostly gone. The eaves are in extremely poor condition. The trees near the house are very overgrown.
Hopefully some sort of compromise can be made to save this beautiful house. It would be a shame to lose something that has been declared historic due to a loop hole in the preservation law.
How to Circumvent Landmark Status.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
