Meeting canceled, demolition decision for 5 Bloomington houses put off 2 weeks
Not until the second week of July will Bloomington’s historic preservation commission (HPC) address the possible demolition of five houses along North Jefferson street on the eastern edge of Indiana University’s campus
That’s because this week’s Thursday meeting was canceled, like many other government meetings, in the wake of Tuesday’s storm. On Friday morning, around 6,000 Duke Energy customers were still without power.
At its July 11 meeting, the HPC will take up the question of “releasing” the demolition delay period for the five houses. That’s the term of art in the world of local historic preservation for allowing the requested demolition to take place.
That’s three days before the original 90-day period would have expired, allowing the demolition of the houses. But at the request of the HPC, on a unanimous vote taken at its June 13 meeting, HAND (housing and neighborhood development) director Anna Killion-Hanson granted a 30-day extension.
The demolition delay now ends on Aug. 14—unless the HPC eventually makes a recommendation to the city council that would have the effect of putting the houses under interim protection.
Responding to a B Square question, Killion Hanson wrote, “I executed that extension following that meeting to allow further citizen participation.”
That participation could include the nomination of a much bigger area as a conservation district, which would include parts of the Green Acres neighborhood. A conservation district is not the same as a historic district.
In a historic district, any exterior alterations are subject to review by the city’s HPC. In a conservation district, it’s just moving or demolishing buildings, or constructing new buildings that are subject to HPC review.
The string of five houses starts at 7th and Jefferson streets, and extends northward along the northwest edge of Green Acres.
If the HPC recommends that the city council establish a conservation district, that would normally include an action to give the houses interim protection while the council decides the question.
At the June 13 meeting, non-voting HPC member Chris Sturbaum, summarized the basic question that has to be considered for establishing a conservation district: Does the neighborhood include houses with a historic form that deserves to be protected?
Based on the descriptions of the five houses in the HPC’s meeting information packet, they’re small, single-story dwellings, built between 1940 and the early 1950s—minimal bungalows or ranches with modest alterations, reflecting common mid-century housing styles. At one point, Indiana University staff or faculty lived in some of them.
For each of the five houses, when considered individually, the recommendation from historic preservation program manager Noah Sandweiss is to approve going ahead with demolition.
Sandweiss noted that each of the houses is listed as a “contributing” structure in the 2018 Local Historic Resurvey completed by Bloomington Restoration, Inc. (BRI) for Bloomington’s HAND department. It is because they are listed as “contributing” that they are subject to a demolition delay, to be reviewed by the HPC.
But as far as a designation that would give each of the houses historic protections, Sandweiss said, “Considering architectural merits and the historic background of the individual buildings, I didn’t consider any of them individually to be eligible for listing.”
That still leaves the possibility of establishing a conservation district, which could include the better part of Green Acres. That would be similar to the approach that was taken four years ago to establish the Near West Side conservation district. Conservation districts can eventually become historic districts.
One of the faculty who once lived in the house at 318 N. Jefferson was IU French professor Edward Najam. At the June 13 HPC meeting, Ted Najam told HPC members that for three years, starting when he was 8 years old, his family lived in the house.
Najam told the HPC: “The large tree in the front yard was a sapling that my father planted in 1955. And the neighborhood was full of people who had just survived World War II when we moved in—it was only 10 years after the end of the war. It was full of children.”
Najam said that if the houses were demolished and a site plan for a new building is put in front of the city, he would be working with the planning and transportation department to try to save the tree that his father planted.
But Najam said that the question is not about the five houses, but rather the larger neighborhood. The issue should be considered in that context, Najam said.
At the June 13 meeting, Sturbaum said there are districts of the same age all over the country. Sturbaum added, “This was built as a personification of the American dream after World War II. People came home and they wanted a little house and a yard. And they wanted to be able to live in those little homes.” Sturbaum said, “This neighborhood reflects that moment in our history.”
Monroe County property records show Doorman Enterprises as the owner of all five houses. But the petitioner for demolition is Sable Beyers of Beyers Realty. According to remarks by historic preservation program manager Noah Sandweiss, made at the HPC’s June 13 meeting, the demolition of the houses is a contingency for the pending sale of the real estate.
A point of emphasis for Sandweiss at the June 13 meeting was that the HPC is supposed to consider the historic merit of the houses, not their views on any new construction that might replace the houses.
Most of the Greenacres neighborhood is zoned for single-family—R3 or R4. But the stretch along North Jefferson Stret where the five houses currently stand, is zoned RM (residential multifamily). That raises the possibility that the five houses will be cleared away to make room for an apartment building.
When the HPC’s July 11 agenda is posted, it will appear on the HPC’s meeting information page.
