Owner wants to tear down a historic Sherman Hill house. Neighbors, city say not so fast

The owner of a historic house in Des Moines' Sherman Hill that was damaged by a fire last year wants to tear it down — but neighbors aren't letting it go down without a fight.

Several turned up last week at a meeting of the city's Historic Preservation Commission where the property's owner, Koshiyo RE LLC, sought get an expedited demolition permit for the century-old multifamily building at 696 18th St. The eight commissioners at the meeting ultimately denied the owner's request after four residents pleaded for an opportunity to explore ways to salvage the house.

"We just felt it was important to try to look at alternatives other than just assume a historic building needs to be torn down and also to express our support for its preservation and talk about alternatives to demolition," preservation consultant and longtime Sherman Hill resident Jack Porter told the Des Moines Register.

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Porter, who lives about a block from the property, said several homes in Sherman Hill on the brink of destruction have been rehabilitated over the years and some are now worth "hundreds of thousands of dollars."

"Once a historic structure is torn down, it's gone forever," he said.

Des Moines wants to help owner figure out if historic home can be restored

The three-story home was damaged in November when a fire broke out on the third floor after neighbors heard an explosion. All the residents escaped unharmed and the cause of the fire hasn't been determined, though the fire department received a report moments before the fire erupted of an electrical failure in the area, department spokesperson Ahman Douglass told the Register this week.

Built around 1900, the nearly 4,000-square-foot house previously belonged to former state Sen. John Hatch and Sonja Roberts, according to the Polk County Assessor's Office. The couple sold it to Emma Hsieh in April 2022 for $430,000. Hsieh serves as the registered agent of West Des Moines-based Koshiyo RE LLC, according to filings with the Iowa Secretary of State's Office.

According to the assessor's office, the house cannot be altered or demolished without approval from the Historic Preservation Commission because it's located within a historic district. The city is required to publish a notice letting the public know of a property owner's intent to alter or demolish a historic residence, according to city planning and urban design administrator Jason Van Essen.

Zach DeCarlo of Des Moines-based DeCarlo Demolition Co. attended the March 22 meeting on behalf of Hsieh to ask the commissioners to waive the requirement, saying the November fire had rendered the house uninhabitable, Van Essen said.

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He said the commissioners' 8-0 vote against the request was based on a lack of information provided by the owner. DeCarlo provided a letter from a structural engineer, but the owner didn't provide an analysis of a renovation budget or insurance reports, he said.

"Without any facts that would support that there was a reason to waive it, they shouldn't waive it, so that's what they did," Van Essen said. "There was no attempt to provide any information by the applicant other than saying, 'There was a fire. I'd like to tear it down.'"

Once the advertising period is over, it's possible the request to demolish the structure could be back on the table, he added. But he said the city hopes to work with the owner to dig into the property's viability.

Hsieh declined to immediately respond to the Register's request for comment.

Demolitions of historic homes uncommon

Neighbors like Porter say that because of the building's age, architecture and historical significance, there's an interest in putting together an initiative to purchase and preserve the structure. Van Essen added that several residents expressed interest in speaking with the owner to offer assistance and some shared their contact information with DeCarlo to pass on to Hsieh.

"I would think the most logical thing would be to do is try to get it cleaned out, empty it out and then try to do a walk-through to figure out what kind of damage is actually in there and that includes putting a roof on it .... and try to stop additional damage from rain," Porter said. He also pointed to exploring the use of historic tax credits to help cover a possible rehabilitation.

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Unlike garages and outbuildings, Van Essen said, demolition of houses and buildings in historic districts is relatively uncommon.

"I think it demonstrates that people value these buildings, so they're invested in" renovating rather than demolishing them," he said. "It is possible to renovate them and do great things with them … I see it as a positive correlation."

Porter said historic homes often offer more than a place to live — they give personality to a neighborhood and city.

"They add a lot of character and fabric … helping a neighborhood be who they are," he said. "When you go to any city, you immediately get an impression of what that city is about when you go to older part of their city downtown or into older neighborhoods."

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Sherman Hill neighbors seek to save fire-scarred historic house