Hoyt house: In response to ‘historic’ critiques

Iam a Hoyt, not by blood but by marriage. I have been the wife of Wade Hoyt III for 48 years, so I think I qualify to call myself “family.” And today, I speak as family.

For some reason, OUR home at 603 W. First St. has become the focus of an emotional and loud outcry against our family’s right to make decisions about OUR property!

Our family has owned the house since 1867, when Col. Wade Cothran presented it to his daughter, Anna, as a wedding gift. No one other than a direct descendant of the Cothran/Hoyt family has ever owned the house. The house predates any Historical Preservation council. It predates the Rome City Commission. My father-in-law was born in that house. He died in that house. My husband was baptized in that house. And we have deep pockets filled with memories of that home. Both those memories and the house belong exclusively to our family.

However, much to our complete surprise, there are those who think they have a right to control what we do with OUR home, and prohibit the plans we have for the use of our property.

As we have attended several meetings already, the Rome Preservation committee and the City Commission, strangers have been allowed to come in off the streets and stand against our family, as if they have any authority whatsoever to say a word. Nasty comments have been slung at us for even considering to demolish the home that is falling in on itself. One citizen, whom we have never seen before in our life, and who has no idea at all what the house looks like, went so far as to say what we want to do is “CRIMINAL!” Another citizen voiced the idea that if we loved the old home so much, we would not have let it fall into a state of disrepair. Of course, he also had no attachment to the house, knew nothing about concerns within our family, or had ever been inside the home. So far not one of these protestors has ever been in the house. A representative of Downtown Development has twice refuted my description of the dilapidated state of OUR house, even in the face of photos taken of the exterior and the interior. I have spent 48 years within the walls of the house. She has never once entered it!

A letter from the city building inspector was sent to our family informing us that the house needed to be torn down. None of that mattered to those who think minding our business is their business.

Our family has presented a request to be removed from the “historical” district, which isn’t historical. Those of you who know West First Street know there is not even one private family residence anywhere near us. We are bounded by the police station on one end of the block and the fire station on the other. The library is our next door neighbor. There is a law firm by the library, and we face the back parking lots of the city auditorium, the Historical Preservation office and a bank. There is absolutely NOTHING HISTORICAL close to us. The river is behind us and, but for the river, nothing historical is there.

What is so confusing to our family is why, all of a sudden, OUR house has become of such interest? Where was the outcry when the city tore down the historical homes next to us, our neighbors’ homes, to build the library? Where is the concern for the historic structure that was leveled to build the fire station? The police station? No one protested when that happened, including the HPC. No one questioned its failure to uphold its own statement of purpose “to protect” our home from what the HPC ordinance refers to as “inappropriate” development that “does not reflect the general character of the neighborhood.” The development was indeed inappropriate, and did not reflect the character of the existing neighborhood. An entire neighborhood of historical interest was demolished in a shocking silence of approval. Gayle Hoyt

Rome