Two 19th Century farmhouses, declared “historic properties” by the village preservation commission and at a site the village wants to market as a business park, are in danger of being destroyed.
Wrecking crews were hired to demolish one of the buildings, a stone house built in 1866, because it presents an eyesore to potential land buyers, Village Engineer Evan Nickodem said late last week.
Both structures were badly vandalized after Germantown bought the property last year, he said.
The Village Board, at a meeting last week, initially postponed deciding the fate of the second building, a wood-frame house built in the mid-1850s, for another six months.
But Village Trustee Melvin Ewert wants it bulldozed immediately. He’s pushing for trustees to approve demolition at the next meeting, Nov. 18.
“If keeping it there six months prevents the sale of even one building lot, that’s one too many,” Ewert said. “It’s not that I don’t like old buildings, but these buildings are a hindrance to our business park.”
Both houses are on the south side of Mequon Road, at the future entrance to the park. The stone house, scheduled for demolition this week, is just west of Forest Drive. The wooden building is east of Forest Drive.
The Germantown Historical Preservation Commission designated both properties as “historic” buildings at a meeting earlier this month. But the village Planning Commission later voted against saving the structures.
“It’s been taken out of our hands,” said Eileen Densow, a preservation committee member.
However, she hopes that a Jackson businessman who offered to purchase the property will ultimately save the wooden house. John Lamm, owner of a landscaping firm, said he wants to buy the building for $1 and restore it.
Lamm, who restored and owns an 1861 log cabin on Maple Road in Germantown, said he has a good track record for preserving historic properties. He wants to form a financial partnership with the village to save the building and convert it to a commercial property.
“We’re speaking up for history — that’s what we’re doing,” Lamm said.
The wood building, which has Gothic arched windows and a fieldstone foundation, “would complement the entrance to the business park” if left standing, he said.
“It would make a real nice entry piece for cars coming into Germantown from the Mequon area,” Lamm said.
But Nickodem said that if the building stays, he would supported it being used only by the Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber wants it for offices and a visitor center but has no money for renovation, said Jami Lynne Sickler, the group’s executive director.
In September, the chamber told the village Government and Finance Committee that it wanted to buy the house for $1. But the organization also said it needed as much as $443,000 to develop the property and restore the building, according to Ewert, a committee member.
The chamber seemed to lose interest in the project after he rejected its informal request for funding, he said.
But Sickler said she is not giving up hope that the village will come up with financing.
“It’s just wait and see,” she said.
Village Trustee Thomas Stauffacher, who also is a member of the historical commission, said he was supporting Lamm’s bid to acquire the property.
