LOWELL — Mayor Eldon Long had the authority to demolish the house at 424 McClure Ave. in Lowell, but he didn’t have the money.
Fast Facts
Davis House
- A plat from 1881 shows that L.P. Davis owned 34 acres, extending east along McClure Avenue and Honeysuckle Street.
- The plat shows the land nearly divided in half, with one half used as a nursery and the other half as an orchard.
- The plat shows the house was on the property when the land was platted in 1881.
- A brick icehouse was most likely used to keep cool fruits from the orchard and seeds from the nursery.
Source: City Of Lowell
The Lowell City Council, in a special meeting Monday night, appropriated money for removal of the house, commonly known as the Davis House.
City officials said the house may be the oldest house in the city.
The city — or an arm of the city — has owned the structure since 2004, according to a timeline drawn up by Long, when city leaders purchased the house for $150,000 plus $500 in closing costs.
Lowell Historical Museum officials first looked at restoring the house, but moved the house and land from museum fixed assets for city administrative fixed assets in 2008, according to information from city leaders.
Now, city officials have a bid of $10,500 to begin demolition of the house today, eventually leaving the city in possession of just over 1 acre of property.
The plot, as it stands with house and structures, was valued at $90,750 in 2008, according to the Benton County Tax Assessor’s Office.
The property has been exempt from property taxes since the city took it over from the museum in 2008, according to assessor’s records.
“I didn’t need council approval to demolish the house,” Long explained. “I need the council to appropriate funds.”
The vote was a unanimous, “yes,” with Aldermen Dean Bitner and Eric Schein absent.
The demolition money will come out of the general fund, officials said.
Long said he had two notices from the building inspection division of the city noting deficiencies in the house and recommending the city tear it down for liability purposes.
He made the decision to demolish the house “for concerns of public safety,” Long stated.
“I thought I had a miscellaneous fund to cover things like this,” Long said. “It turns out, I didn’t. So the council needed to approve the funding.”
The original bid to demolish the house was $8,000, Long said. City officials also obtained a quote of $60,000 to move the house this spring.
“Since then, we found out the building has asbestos,” Long explained. “We’ve obtained permission from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to tear down the house.”
City leaders attempted to get the house put on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
But officials with the Arkansas Historical Preservation program said the National Park Service, which is over the National Register of Historic Places, will not list a property covered with vinyl or metal siding, according to information from the city of Lowell.
Additions to the main structure of the original house also were causes for concern in getting historical recognition for the site, the mayor noted.
The cost also was prohibitive to restore the house, Long said, stating the cost for renovation for the house and an adjacent icehouse would run between $350,000 and $450,000 with as much as a 40 percent increase, depending on the findings as construction progressed.
A representative with the Lowell Lions Club, which had taken on painting murals on the plywood over the house’s windows as a club project, said Monday the club has no problem with the demolition.
“We’re putting our mural in the Lowell Senior Center,” said Elizabeth Estes, secretary-treasurer of the club. “The house goes down, we go to the Senior Center.”
The mayor informed aldermen he was exploring the demolition of the structures at their June 19 meeting.