Hill House May End Up On National Historic Register

Hill House may end up on national historic register

By TINA LAM

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

The city's Historic District Commission, which is trying to save the house, nominated it for the federal register in December, less than a week after the church voted to raze the house. Hill House is only the second building in Ann Arbor that the local commission has recommended for the register.
 

The Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board was scheduled to vote today to make Hill House, the subject of controversy in recent months because its church owner is considering tearing it down, eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

The First Presbyterian Church, owner of the vacant house at 1421 Hill St. in Ann Arbor, opposes the listing.

A place on the register would not save the house from demolition, but it would automatically guarantee significant tax benefits for preserving the structure.

The city's Historic District Commission, which is trying to save the house, nominated it for the federal register in December, less than a week after the church voted to raze the house. Hill House is only the second building in Ann Arbor that the local commission has recommended for the register, said HDC member Louisa Pieper.

By nominating it, "We wanted to indicate to the church how strongly we felt about the building's architectural and historic significance," Pieper said.

The church and HDC agreed last week to a two-week moratorium delaying the fate of the building, as the church considers proposals to lease the house and the HDC puts on temporary hold its plans to make the area around the house an historic district.

But if the church agreed to lease the house for 19 years, the lessee could get tax benefits for renovating it if it were listed on the National Register.

Earlier this year, church attorneys formally objected to having the house listed on the National Register, saying the house needed work and the church did not feel that the cost of renovating it was justified, said Robert Christensen, National Register coordinator of the state Bureau of History in Lansing.

Until 1981, buildings could be listed on the National Register despite an owner's objections. Now, if an owner objects but a state review board feels a building should be on the list, the property is deemed "eligible" for the list, but not actually listed, Christensen said.

Being eligible for the list means that if the church changed its mind or a new owner wanted it listed, the house would be placed on the list automatically, he said.

The only way to prevent a house from being torn down is through local historic district commissions, Christensen said. Ann Arbor's HDC has said it will try to set up a Washtenaw-Hill Street historic district which would include Hill House.

The state review board meets quarterly to vote on nominations to the National Register. Christensen said he expects Hill House to be approved by board members Thursday. The nomination would then be passed along to the U.S. Departmen of the Interior and would appear on the "eligibles" list within a month to six weeks, he said.

The church has set a Saturday noon deadline for interested groups to lay out their proposals for leasing the house. On Sunday, the committee members will interview those who submitted proposals, said David Dickinson, chairman of the committee.

Next Wednesday, the committee will make its recommendations on the lease proposals to the 36-member governing body of the church, which will then vote on whether to lease Hill House. That vote is likely to depend on "the quality of the offer," Dickinson said.

The church body had planned to vote Feb. 25 on asking the city for a demolition permit for the house, but a last-minute agreement hammered out in the hallways after a City Council meeting led to the two-week grace period.

The church has put a $19,000 deposit with the city of water and sewer cutoffs to the property, but City Administrator Godfrey Collins said he won't approve a shutoff until at least March 13, and even if the church voted to ask for a permit, Collins isn't likely to approve a utility shutoff until City Council has a chance to consider a temporary injunction stopping the demolition.

The church's criteria for leasing the house now are that any proposal have sound financial backing (without using the church property itself as collateral), that it "preferably" be connected to the church's mission, and that it be leased for no more than 15 years.

Dickinson said the 15-year term could be extended if financial backing depending on a longer lease.

At least three proposals are expected by the noon deadline Saturday:

-Malcolm Collins, an architect with Architects Four, is proposing a 10-room bed and breakfast inn at the house. Renovations would cost $350,000 to $450,000, he estimates. If the church agreed to list the property on the National Register, about 20 percent of that could be recovered in tax credits. Those credits are vital to the project, he said. Collins expects he could get his renovation money back and hopefully make a profit in the lease period, giving the church back a fully renovated house.

-Lisa Dengiz, a church member, said the time frame for proposals "is tight" but she and others hope to get a proposal for a retirement home at Hill House in by the deadline. The home would house nine to 13 people. "We only had five working days, five bank days" to get the proposal ready, she said.

-Community Systems Foundation, a group that works on nutrition and family planning projects in developing countries, is interested in moving its headquarters to Hill House, Dickinson said. The nonprofit group is now located several blocks up on Hill Street.

Dickinson said he is aware of "one or two more" proposals to lease Hill House and expects those to make Saturday's deadline.