For Todd Raney, "The Ruins" will be home sweet home.
The Ruins is how locals long have referred to the property at 305 W. 13th St., a desolate fixture in downtown Little Rock for about 80 years.
The lot's concrete block foundation and brick walls have provided a stark post-apocalyptic backdrop for many a photographer shooting wedding and class photos.
Those same features now will be incorporated into the home Raney intends to build at the site.
Which is typical for the 57-year-old Raney, who has been restoring downtown homes since the 1980s. Where many might see an eyesore, Raney said he sees beauty.
In this case, when finished, the beauty will have a Mediterranean/Spanish Revival feel to it. That is what the original plans called for when the builder came up with a design for what was going to be an apartment building with retail space in one or two stories.
Capitol Zoning District Commission staff dated the plans for the property to the 1930s.
Given its age, The Ruins might qualify as a historical property, but since it was never completed, its significance isn't remarkable, said Patricia Blick, executive director of the Quapaw Quarter Association, a nonprofit historic preservation advocacy organization in Little Rock.
"There's obviously a story there, but we don't know what it is," she said. "Unfortunately, there's not much to it ... a project that was never realized. It's interesting that the site is going to be fully developed."
Neither Raney nor the real estate agent who handled his purchase of the property last year, Tony Curtis, like the nickname The Ruins for the property.
"It's an unfinished structure," Curtis said.
It is also the way the commission staff described the property in its report.
"Though widely known as the 'Ruin' or 'Ruins', the masonry site feature seen today at 305 West 13th is actually an uncompleted building," according to the report. "Agency records indicate it was designed as a Mediterranean-style apartment structure, and Sanborn maps show that the project had begun by 1939, but why construction was discontinued remains unknown."
The previous owner had obtained approval from the commission to demolish The Ruins. Curtis said he called Raney, who has been living in downtown and restoring properties there for years.
"I thought it needed to be saved," said Raney, who got his start at saving properties as a teenager in Warren, where he would rewire old mobile homes and sell them. "I always like to restore. I like to see everything kept that we can."
Raney had an engineer inspect what was left of the unfinished building. Sure, its concrete had cracks and some of the bricks had shifted, but the structure had held up well over the years, according to the engineer.
"It's rock solid," Raney said. "It's a testament to the quality of the building back then."
Raney said he estimated the structure was almost 50 percent complete when construction halted. "It lacked a slab and roof from being completed."
His initial plans for the site weren't well-received by the commission, he recalled. "But we went back to the table three times, and they got a compromise between what I wanted and what they wanted. Everybody's happy."
When completed, Raney said his new home will have four bedrooms, four bathrooms with a large kitchen/den combination with a rooftop terrace and sun deck. The house also will feature a center courtyard, as reflected in the original drawings.
He projects it will take a year to build, which he said is evidence he wants to build to reflect its original design.
"I'm still trying to find the right materials," Raney said. "I don't want to buy the fake stuff."
SundayMonday Business on 06/11/2017
