RestorationConsultant

I recieved the following email in response from waverly auctions: "We have only been hired to sell the personal effects and contents of the home. I agree that the home is beautiful and I have inquired as to the reasoning behind changing and "updating" so much of the home. The owner only replied that he intended to modernize the home and to make it more energy effecient by replacing the windows with modern, as well, he explained that due to the old wiring, many walls and floors were going to have to be severely damaged and/or removed, and because he is intending to "update" the home, he thought there would be buyers that have historic homes that could use these items, or people who would like to add historic architecture to a new structure. We agreed to show photos and to promote his wishes on the attached items and architecture. Anyone who wishes to purchase them items are dealing directly with the owner. I am only hoping that whoever purchases the architecture will enjoy it for years to come. " Their Point taken, HOWEVER, no one at their company has apparently made any effort to tell the owner that "remuddling' the house will result in serious loss of value. Auction houses deal with Historic houses every day and THEY know the ramifications. The owner has alternatives and this makes me wonder about the "level of skill' of the contractor he may be dealing with. Reputable contractors know there are alternatives to replacement windows such as magnetic "restoration friendly" storms that preserve the original windows. Additionally ANY experienced electrical contractor routinely runs wiring by "fishing" or small 'chase runs' that do minimal damage to interior details. In fact many things are now done wirelessly such as intercom and security componets and internet hookup greatly reducing the damage. I sent am email to Margo Warminsky at CPA ( she is the one who originally informed me about the issue) that maybe she can set up a meeting with the owner through the auction company to advise him that there are alternatives. This type of thing would not happen if Cincinnati had more restrictive preservation districts like many cities do now that restrict changing of windows, Change of facade, that sort of thing. Clearly, Something "else' is going on here. We either have a seriously misinformed owner who is being fed a line by a 'hack contrator', Or the plan is to convert this property to some other use (like a nursing home or office use?)

Waverly Auctions is conducting a "Tag Sale" of an unnamed 25 room Tudor Revival house in North Avondale on June 13 and 14. The house is going to be stripped to the bare walls All the furnishings and fixtures are for sale, including doors, woodwork, floors, leaded glass windows, etc. The Location will be disclosed Friday The removal of these items will render the house worthless for restoration and Cincinnati will lose another architectural treasure. I have sent emails to Waverly Auction advising them I will not attend this Tag sale, nor will I EVER patronize any of their auctions or advise my clients to patronize their auctions. I will not support the "Architectural Rape" of historic structures, clearly NO ONE advised the owners of the estate that selling the fixtures, while it may generate more money initially, will drastically reduce the value of the house when they go to sell it and basically render it worthless for restoration. I urge everyone to call or email them and express your outrage over the stripping of architectural details from historic property. MAYBE if enough people complain maybe this practice can be stopped and this house kept intact.

It would appear so, a far too common occurrance when people go into restoration without a real idea of the cost. Given the economy I would think it would be very hard to find a bank willing to loan what will be necessary to properly restore the house , especially for B&B use as the codes are more specific. I wonder if she even knows you are limited on the number of suites? I believe its 5 in Cincinnati? Not sure on that but I read it somewhere . You have 24 room house, Dont forget there is a carriage house to restore as well and you are looking at only 5 suites to rent out you have to have a very high 'book rate' to even cover the costs of upkeep much less if you have a substancial bank note. I've been a consultant on a few B&B and Boutique Hotel projects and I know from doing bid and build specs what this is likely to cost. JUST the buildout, mechanicals, plumbing, electrical , adding baths , new kitchen, HVAC and no doubt LOTS of woodwork refinishing and specialized "artisan"skilled craftsman ' projects you are AT LEAST 5-600,000.00, more likey 750K! So you are "going all the way' and doing a real period restoration? ADD another 100,000.00 for Historic lighting and wallpaper NOT to mention antiques to furnish it. We are restoring, Really restoring, a 1871 Second Empire Cottage. about 1800 square feet and I do restoration for living , mind you. Our budget is 225-250,000 for our house and I am doing much of the work myself. Restoration can typically run 75-200 a square foot depending on the house. She has 9000 square feet, you do the math! Finding a bank,and a bank that understands this kind of project is one thing. Having a business plan to support that kind of investment is another and given location, Appraisal is a big issue. Trust me the folk down at building inspection know what things cost too. Remember those brick townhomes the city 'restored' and went WAY over projections on? She would be better off to go in with a 5 year plan of gradual restoration, Do the outside first so the city would be happy with the appearance, THEN, do the interior work and hopefully the economy will be strong enough and there will be comparable restorations close by you can point to for appraisal purposes. B&B projects are almost totally self funded. If you don't have the cash, you shoudln't even be thinking about going that route. But then I deal with people who "have a dream" everyday and my perscription is to go rent the movie "Money Pit' and watch it for 24 hours solid until you can't see straight. THEN you have clue what you are getting into!

Thats it! I think the situation is that the owner has NO CLUE what it will take to properly restore it. She is apparently going to submit 'some plan' but if she can't demonstrate the funds to do it we all no what the likely result will be.

Arenn, great article. That brings up an interesting point too. Often especially in OTR you have buildings that may be too far gone structurally to save. However the street facade is intact. Many cities with historic urban areas like OTR, now require the retention of the street facade and part of new building construction. The city of St Joseph MO Saved a historic cast iron facade and found a developer to build a new structure behind it. http://www.dciconstruction.biz/show_detail/40/Fourth%20Street%20Lofts This maintained the street facade, in OTR these streetscapes are perhaps the most important part of the character of the neighborhood and we need to do more to save them.

Consider the fact that it cost beteween 8-15K to demo a house. Now a larger mixed use building or brownstone like you find in OTR more than that. To me if the city took the time to file the liens for boardup, cleanup of lots and filed that as a lien. Then the city has a better legal means (leverage) to get that property out of someones hands who has no real interest in it by going to court to see the lien satified. Yes the city winds up with property. What the city is lacking in my opinion is a good landbanking program tied to an urban historic homesteading program. There is federal monies out there, the city just needs a plan. Take the monies you would normally spend on demolition, take 1/2 of that for facade restoration. So it looks good from the street and get a roof on it so you stop the water deterioration ( the biggest enemy to a historic structure) Advertise it on a landbank. The property has protective covenants and owner must agree as part of the sale to pull permits ( make the fees refundable after final inspection as an incentive) and submit a time line and proof of financial resources to fund the project. If you could get 1 or 2 rehabs per block going on it might be enough of a tipping point to get real developers in. You need people back in the area who have real committment and less out of state "investor types" who are holding waiting for someone else to do the work on a block so they can make a buck. The city has got to change the demolition permits so they can only be pulled by a liscened demolition contractor. The problem now is its cheaper for a building owner to demo a property himself rather than fix it. If they had to pay a demo contractor 20-30k they would be less likely to tear a property down. Also change the permit that there must be review on historic buildings before a permit is granted.

The whole VBML needs to be revamped in my opinion. The city does not enforce the VBML in an consititent manner and when it isn't paid they city failes to file a lien , it doesnt show on title search, so people routinely buy properties and start work only to find they need to spend 900 on a VBML, go through an incredible amount of redtape. Most simply walk away. I was told by one city official that the reason they dont file liens when a VBML isnt renewed is they dont want to own more property, So often the property goes through say a foreclosure, a couple of owners and someone finally comes along who wants to do something and they get hit with a VBML because the city "finds them' or an inspector wanders by on a follow up. There are two pending lawsuits against the city challenging the whole VBML. I personally think there has to be a better system and I dont want to see the concept totally thrown out. There are 20 properties sitting in my neighborhood on the VBML list, MOST of them have no real structural issues. Thye just dont "look nice'. Condemn order are often filed I think because the city "writes off' a neighborhood and thinks no one will come along to put the money into a particular house.

Blaubaum the city owns a great deal of the buildings in OTR that while boarded are falling apart because the city is sitting on them waiting for some "prefferred developer". The longer they sit, the more costly they are to restore and vacand boarded buildings stifle restoration . I did a quick check of auditors office and I left out vacant lots, city owned buildings part of Findlay, and institutional buildings such as churches and parks the city holds, I didnt do all the streets in OTR just a few. You may find this interesting: ELM:1717,1718,1722,1814,1824,1826,1828 Pleasant: 1552,1610,1611,,1612,1626,1630,1713,1716 Race: 1544,1601,1717,1811,1804 Vine:1714,1735,1737 I did not include properties owned by the housing authority maybe a dozen or so more. The city easily hold 30-40 lots in OTR So to say the city doesn't hold much property would be an error. The city needs to start marketing these properties to preservationist and business entities willing to restore them. I can tell you I have been looking for some time for a building to restore to put our Historic interior design and antiques business in and there isn't much available North of Liberty right now. What is available usually is 'investor owned' and has a condemn or VBML against it making restoration extremely difficult.

BDRUF, I agree. If you go not that far from where this house is there is some restoration going on. I know every year in INdianapolis The St Margarets Guild does a decorator showhouse as a fundraiser for a local hospital. They bring in local designers to redo rooms and it is widely popular. You have to think that perhaps some group in this city could redo it and do something like that. People love decorator showhouses. I do period interior design myself and have worked on few. With donated goods and services this place could not only shine but draw attention to the area as a whole and perhaps nudge a turnaround. There are some dedicated preservationists working on some houses over there. Redone I think you could find a buyer for it, either someone workinga t one of teh hospitals or the college or even as an office for say a small insurance company or a realtors office.

BlauBaum, I stand by my comment that Cincinnati has a lack of forward thinking, particularly as relates to city government and Urban planning. Cincinnati is using the failed "blight=bulldozer Urban planning/retvilization model" that the majority of Urban planners agree is a failed model and abandoned 15-20 yrs ago by most cities. I have spent 20 plus years working in historic neighborhoods and with urban planners from across the country and this model does not work. The fact that people are willing to "write off" a property on the national registry proves my point that people have little understanding of historic preservation as an economic development tool. Take a look at OTR. OTR and West End could be a major historic tourism destination. Look at Chaleston SC, Savannah GA, or New Orleans. A revitilized "historic" OTR could be the most expensive exclusive property in the city and would have businesses that would provide much needed jobs. Findlay Market could be full, Elm and Race Streets could be major shopping and entertainment districts. The major sucess downtown, Fountain Square, was mostly done by private investment. It is doubtful the streetcar will come to reality given the city deficit and strong opposition to it. Instead it is a constant uphill battle to get anything done in OTR and the city sitting on blocks of property does not help as they fall apart. In ANY other city a property like this would have generated calls to the mayors office, business community leaders holding discussions about how to save it and a community up in arms that the city would even consider demoing it. But not in Cincinnati.

Many cities hava what they call a 'diversion plan' especially on historic properties over 100 yrs old (most everything in Urban cincinnati). The city, or its prervation planner maintains a website of "historic property opportunities". To avoid having a property demoed and the liens and cost involved , the property owner is given two options "Pull permits and fix the property or sell it". Properties then are listed and have protective covenant requiring the buyer to demonstrate financial responsibility and is required to pull permits within 30 days and restore the property to histoic standards. The city refunds the permit fees (which can amount to few thouosand on a major restoration) after final inspection. Cincinnati already has a property tax abatement program which is an incentive. The city could set aside some of the demolition funding for facade grants which would be an additional incentive to someone looking to come in and buy and live in a neighborhood. The city could call it the "Historic Urban Pionneer Project" or something like that. Maybe even tie it to a vocational building trades program with city school system where High School kids could do some of the stabilization work in the same neighborhood and get some needed skills.

Every month or so I get a list of property that the city is holding a hearing on to recommend that these properties be bulldozed. This hearing on June 9th is no exception 21 properties in various urban neighborhoods. 1 is on the National Historic Registry. If you look at the condemn/VBML (ordered vacant list) there a few thousand properties that could be headed for landfill. Most in Fairmount, Avondale, Price Hill, Westwood, Clifton and West End/OTR. Cincinnati seems to be following the "blight=bulldoze Urban Planning model" that progressive cities have long since abandoned. At this rate Cincinnati could look more like Detroit in a few years with blocks of vacant land that no one wants to build on. Having come from a city (Indianapolis) that bulldozed a lot of its urban neighborhoods in the downtown and took 30 plus years to now be at a point of infill and a decent tax base. It will never get that architecture back however!It strikes me that Cincinnati is making a major mistake, especially with the deficit the city is looking at. It costs between 8-12K to demo a house. A better use of those monies would be in stabilization and restoration to bring back people to urban neighborhoods. Vacant lots do not contribute to the tax base at a level a house does. Am I the only one who see this as a BAD idea to bulldoze neighborhoods to 'fix' blight and "improve' the neighborhoods?

I think that often people dont think far enough into the future, great neighborhoods arent restored in a day. I agree it could have a number of potential uses but it also could be restored a single family. I restored historic homes in Indy for years and trust me when we first started restoring in some neighbohoods we were the only ones there AND they were surrounded with slum apartment buildinings and such. Actually Reading Road is tame compared to some neighborhoods I've been in. Today those aprtment buildings are long gone and new upscale infil homes it in their place. Cincinnati has always had a problem with forward thinking. It just takes ONE preservation minded person to start a neighborhood turnaround.

There is a remarkable turn of the century Craftsman shotgun down the street from me that the city is planning on tearing down because it is a 'blight", and a Second Empire Victorian cottage and a large Italianate and the list goes on. I have 20 properties in my neighborhood on the city hit list for VBML or demo. At the rate the city is bulldozing we wont have any architecture left! None of these homes in my neighborhood have any serious structural issues. Some inspector , somewhere, thinks it "looks bad" and nobody would want to restore it. Nevermind I'm putting 200K into a period restoration a block away or the people around the corner who have just started prepping their house for a 4 color preservation paint job. We have 1.2 million dollars of restoration going on by a dozen people in my neighborhood and the city doesn't see the potential in any of these houses. The biggest enemy of neighborhood turnaround is the City of Cincinnati.

Probably the greatset example of the shingle style was "Kragsyde" designed by Peabody and Sterns. You can google it and find photos but I think you will get an idea of how that house relates to yours. On your house the porch column design is more "colonial' in design. This "variant" of the shingle is more common as you go more into the midwest as more east coast houses would have square shingled columns that wopuld perhaps gently curve up into the top.

The Hannaford designed Mansion at 3725 Reading Road is set for a demolition hearing at 9:00 A.M. on June 12, 2009 in the Main Conference Room, First Floor, Business Development and Permit Center, 3300 Central Parkway. One of the few Frame houses designed by Hannaford (most were stone). This home was built in 1884 is in the Shingle style with Queen Anne detailing. It was built for Walter Field who was the president of the American Cottonseed Oil company. The property became the Jewish Hotel in 1912 and later a rooming house. The photo is courtesy of the Hamilton County Auditors office. The exterior does not look that bad! Cincinnati is following the Detroit urban renewal model of Blight=Bulldozer. It didn't work in Detroit and it needs to stop in Cincinnati The house is listed on the National Register.

I thought I'd post some recent photos of the progress of our 1871 Second Empire Cottage Restoration located in eth Knox Hill area of Fairmount in Cincinnati. The big event has been the removal of the old late 30's siding to reveal the original clapboards on the east and south facades of the house. The original siding is in remarkably good condition as opposed to the North Side which required almost total replacement. I have also been working on the Corbel restoration. We were able to locate 4 matching salvage corbels which were in pretty rough shape, With alot of work they look as good as new and will be ready to install soon. Front Porch work continues as well and the roof structure is next but I have to install the brackets and finish the box gutter restoration (easier access before the porch roof goes on.) Painting is progressing now along the east facade of the house. The colors are all Valspar "National Trust Preservation colors"

It has that classic bungalow look but to me if looks to be more the earlier "shingle style" of Victorian architecture. Popular on the east coast the style migrated to the midwest as well but wasnt as popular. The house has some very nice "free classic' /colonial detailing that makes me believe its an earlier house. Also the fact you mentioned pocket doors which is an earlier indication. Many late Victorian houses were "updated/remuddled" into the craftsman style when it became popular. Great work so far!!! I would guess the house dates to 1890-1895.

This is probably a good move for the neighborhood. I took some friends from Texas to the area and we walked all around the neighborhood. We found restorations going on all the way to the end at the freeway and surprisingly we found some on Freeman and Baymiller under restoration as well. Given its proximity to downtown and the realative compactness of the neighborhood compared to OTR, I think the areas turnaround is starting to turn the corner. If a couple of developers would come in and convert some of tht old industrial to lofts I think that might be the final cataylist the area needs. I'd really like to know what the plans are for that property.

It was reported on the Building Cincinnati Blog today that two of the four have been bulldozed apparently by the owner. This should be a "wake up call" to preservationists in the city that none of our history is important enough for this city to try to save. This is particularly sad since I recently toured Dayton street and there are several new restorations going on and restoration activities have expanded to Baymiller, Freeman and Colerain. There is a property in the next block on Bank Street on the market at 299K, Sad that these properties are gone when restoriation was clearly headed in their direction and they were viable.

I bagan the porch construction this weekend. I elected to do a Italianate style square post with raised panels on the lower end. started witha 4x4 post and chanferred the ouside corners. I used a simple arched brackets in the corner. Took measuremnts once installed and purchased trim to make the "caps' as well as some decorative trim out higher up on the posts. Easier to precut the small trim at home and install later on site. Still have to do the roof and decide on the balausters but made some good progress.

Seems to be some people out there are unfamiliar with the neighborhood so I thought I'd post some pictures of some of the houses in the area. There is a broad range of architectural styles. I will try to take some more of the area this weekend when we are down there working.

I am always 'working away' on the weekends on this house, I am hoping with the Harrison avenue improvements planned and the impending destruction by the city of the Irish Cliffs apartments at Harrison and Fairmount, that the neighborhood will have good summer, a few of my neighbors who have been working inside are now ready to start outside work and I think once we have a few more "painted ladies' on the street, maybe people will begin to notice, and consider, the neighborhood again. There is a lot of architectural diversity in the area from carpenter cottages and early craftsman bungalows to several large mansions over at fairmount and luckey street.

Thanks. All the colors are from the National Historic Trust pallette. It has been my experience that one needs to go a shade brighter that normal in an urban enviroment because over time it will darken and fade somewhat. As for "city data" there should be city data and "suburbia data" in my opinion as they are two distinct animals. However if Cincinnati follows what I saw in Indianapolis between 98-2008, all the suburbanites will be kicking themselves that they didnt move downtown back when it was affordable. Also when they are faced with 1 1/2-2 hr daily commutes, higher gas prices and Urban sprawl and crime, downtown and urban neighborhoods will seem like a 'smart idea" compared to the congestion of suburbia.

Over the weekend we were able to get the trim work done on the square bay bumpout we built. Still have some trim work to do and we are adding a window box as well. It was nice to get the upper window in, actually its the storm window, we are adding a stained glass window behind it soon. We based the overall design of the bumpout on similar Second Empires we have seen around town, my goal when finished is that it will look like it has always been there and was built this way. Of course the porch columns and roof over them are next on my to do list!