Selling a house for $1

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo.

The old Queen Anne-style house that sits next to city hall in Ste. Genevieve has seen better days. The house, long abandoned, is in a horrible state of disrepair -- the vines penetrating the inside of the structure through the windows will attest to that.

"The house is now to the point where it's become kind of dangerous," said Mayor Dick Greminger. "It's deteriorated and it needs to be torn down."

Unless a buyer comes forward to take the 100-plus-year-old house off the city's hands -- for as low as $1 -- and move it to another location, demolition is exactly what will happen, much to the chagrin of the city's landmarks commission.

The commission is a city advisory body with the job of helping preserve the historic places in a town with a French heritage nearing 300 years old. Ste. Genevieve has North America's oldest collection of French Colonial buildings.

The Queen Anne house isn't one of them, but the commission still thinks it can be and should be saved.

"One of the commissioners who is a restorationist and works in construction inspected the building and said it was structurally sound," said Mike Hankins, a commissioner and owner of the Southern Hotel.

The city purchased the house in 1993. Greminger said the intention all along was to turn the building into a parking lot when one became needed, but Hankins said his commission was never informed of those plans.

Last month the commission advised the city not to tear down the house, but the board of aldermen voted unanimously to go ahead with the removal.

Hankins and Greminger agree the extra parking is needed. Greminger said parking wasn't a concern until now because a bank next to the city hall allowed people visiting the hall to park there. Now the parking lot is too full, and the city needs the space, said Greminger.

Hankins said the city could change the layout of its current parking lot, placing spaces at a 45-degree angle, or could even renovate the house for office space, which is also tight.

But another issue with the house has taken precedence.

"Now it's more of a safety issue," Greminger said.

The house has no historical significance other than the fact it's a Queen Anne, a rarity in Ste. Genevieve, said Hankins.

The city has a commitment to preserve as many historic sites as possible, Hankins said, a mandate that comes all the way down from the federal government. Three more historic sites in the city received federal recognition in May.

To hear Hankins tell it, the town is on the commission's side.

"This is going to open up a can of worms," he said. "I don't think they understand what they've done."

But Greminger thinks the town is on the side of the aldermen.

"Obviously the commission has a specific purpose, and it is to look at the landmarks and the historic aspects of the town when people want to do something," he said.

"The board took probably a more overall look at how people in their wards and in the town felt about the house. The board looked at it from a more overall perspective."

Greminger said bids on demolishing the house are expected back soon. The city would prefer to see the house saved and moved, he said, and would reimburse any buyer in an amount up to the cost of demolition.

But Hankins doubts anyone will want to go through the trouble of moving a house in the middle of town.

So far no interested buyer has come forward. Demolition is expected to begin soon.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182