Michigan Town To Lose Two Historic Buildings
By Lauren Walser | Online Only | Sept. 7, 2010
After months of fighting to save a piece of the city's historic downtown, citizens of Chelsea, Mich., learned the city's Downtown Development Authority voted last month to demolish two of the three buildings in the historic Longworth Complex.
The buildings slated for demolition are the Chelsea House Livery, the town's only remaining livery barn, and the Art Moderne Daniels Showroom, which housed one of the city's early automobile dealerships. (The Aug. 19 vote did not affect the complex's middle building, the c. 1901 Mack Building, which will remain standing.)
"As you're driving in south and you cross the railroad tracks, the Longworth Complex is the first thing you see," says Jan Bernath, a member of the board of directors of Preservation Chelsea. "When it's gone, there will be huge gap in the city's downtown."
The city has not announced when it will demolish the buildings, which it has owned for about two years, or what it is planning to do with the site, but locals speculate that the livery will be turned into a parking lot and the Daniels Showroom into a small green space. The Downtown Development Authority (DDA), which lists enhancing "the historic character of the downtown through restoration and renovation" as a goal in its mission statement, did not respond to requests for comment.
The DDA voted to demolish the buildings in June 2009, less than two months after a town hall meeting was held to discuss the possibilities for the site. There, citizens were presented four possible options for the site, only one of which called for saving any buildings, and were given an opportunity to share their opinions. The DDA assured those in attendance that there would be other opportunities for public input, but the group, which holds public meetings at 7:30 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month, voted just weeks later to demolish the livery and showroom.
Upon hearing the DDA's decision, members of Preservation Chelsea sprung to action, raising public awareness of the historic importance of the complex through letters to the editor of the local paper, informational posters, and community events. Members circulated a petition speaking out against demolition and collected 700 signatures, which they presented both to the City Council and the DDA. They also formed a limited-liability corporation, the Chelsea Connection, LLC, to develop a feasible adaptive-reuse project for the Longworth complex.
Over the past year, several community members suggested alternatives to demolition, including turning the complex into a small animal conservatory or a teen community center.
All ideas were either withdrawn or rejected, however, and in August the DDA voted to move forward with the decision they made last year to demolish the buildings. Local preservationists plan to fight the decision.
The DDA has stated at its meetings that the buildings are an eyesore and a traffic hazard, though no studies have been done to confirm the latter concern.
"It looks like an empty building, but it doesn't look awful, and it certainly isn't blighted," says Ellen Thackery, Southeast Michigan field representative of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who notes the city of Chelsea is generally quick to embrace its historic character.
The livery and showroom flank the Mack Building, a two-story brick vernacular structure built to house the Chelsea Manufacturing Company. In its early days, the company manufactured pencil sharpeners and bicycles, and in 1903 it manufactured the first car in Chelsea, the Welch. Five years later, the two-story Chelsea House Livery was built as a horse and automobile livery. The Daniels Showroom was built in the late 1940s once the city's automobile dealership began operating out of the Mack Building.
In the 1950s, the town's Longworth family purchased all three buildings to house the Longworth Plating Company, which operated there until the business closed in 2002. The city purchased the complex about two years ago, and it has remained vacant.
Downtown Chelsea, including the Longworth Complex, is currently being considered for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, which strikes some residents as being ironic.
"As we are moving forward with recognizing our historic character," Bernath says, "we are demolishing our historic buildings."
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Comments
Submitted by Sharon at: September 15, 2010
Shame on the DDA for voting to destroy history. Don't they realize once they are gone they will never be replaced. Maybe they should visit England and see the value of history!! Rethink this disaster!!!
Submitted by Anonymous at: September 14, 2010
These buildings really aren't harming anything, but during a recent preservation campaign in Chicago, we dealt with the same mindset. The powers that be are drunk on power and once they get it in their head to tear down a building, they do, and fighting against it, they only fall faster. Some of it is incompetence, some of it is corruption, but mostly the reason is just lack of vision.
Submitted by Kristi at: September 9, 2010
How in the world are these buildings a traffic hazard? There don't appear to be large chunks from the facades in the middle of the road...
Submitted by Brian at: September 7, 2010
If the buildings aren't blighted or a hazard then there is no reason to demolish them. This shows a lack of foresight. In several decades the downtown may be a bustling place of business and atmosphere... historic buildings are a non-renewable source. once they're gone... they're gone forever...