Judge stalls plan for demolition of historic mansion
The historic Nineteenth Century Club building is scheduled to be razed, the new owners told Environmental Court on Monday.
The revelation confirmed preservationists’ suspicions, fueled by recently severed power lines and the appearance of a salvage company at the 106-year-old mansion at 1433 Union.
But Environmental Court Judge Larry Potter did issue an order that buys some time for any 11th-hour compromise, sale or community pressure to take effect. Midtown Action Coalition and Memphis Heritage will lead protests at the site at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We are losing something that we will never regain,” Potter said The court ordered that no demolition take place until the owner, Union Group LLP, first submit a demolition plan to the Fire Department and the court.
The owners’ attorney, Linda Mathis, asked if the court would also like a redevelopment plan, and Potter said it would.
Mathis said the owners will appear for court with the plans at 9 a.m. July 9.
“It’s a travesty,” architect Joe Hagan, president of Memphis Heritage, said after the brief court session. He predicted that any new commercial development would not be supported by Midtown neighborhood organizations and preservationists.
The new ownership was to appear in Environmen-
tal Court because of code violations.
Potter strongly urged preservation, but acknowledged he could not force it to be saved.
The Nineteenth Century Club sold the building at auction last winter. Club leaders had said they could not afford the renovation costs, estimated at $1.2 million and above.
But Potter, without naming the women’s club, expressed a veiled criticism in the context of “lessons’’ learned from the case.
“When you have a build- ing that is of historical significance you cannot, at the end of that building’s life, issue a decree and wave a magic wand renovating the building immediately,” Potter said.
“A building is a lot like a human being. If you do not care for your body, after a period of time, it happens to all of us, illnesses will occur. If you don’t do something about it, fatal illness will occur.
“The time to have saved this building probably should have started 20 years ago.”
The building was listed in 1979 on the National Register of Historic Places, which offers no protection from the wrecking ball.
The mansion was built in the Colonial Revival architectural style in 1907 by lumber magnate Rowland J. Darnell.
The house features lavish mill work and lavish architectural details, and is one of the few remaining historic buildings on Union, a commercial avenue once lined by mansions.
“I do not think that it is a wise decision to demolish the building,” Potter said. “Frankly, what I think doesn’t matter. If there were legal means by which I could stop this, then I would certainly consider that.”
He said there seems to be a rush toward demoli- tion.
“I would hope and I would encourage the ownership to consider an alternative method by which parts of that building could be saved,” Potter said.
“That is an encouragement from the court; I cannot mandate it.
“I do believe the citizens of the city of Memphis and of Shelby County would be very supportive of any effort made by the Union Group ... to save as much of that structure or any of that structure. I do believe that would be something that would be viewed with a great deal of approval and acceptance by the citizens of this city.”