WARREN Owner wants to raze old house

One city resident believes the house should be preserved as a piece of downtown history.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A 114-year-old East Market Street house is targeted for demolition.
Superior Cup Inc. of East Market Street, which owns the house at 418 E. Market, has applied for a permit to demolish it. Company officials couldn't be reached.
Because the house is in the city's historical commercial district, approval from a design review committee is required for demolition. The committee meeting for that decision will likely be next week.
Michael D. Keys, executive director of Warren Redevelopment and Planning, said the committee considers the historical value, neighbors and what's planned to replace a structure when deciding whether or not to grant approval. The idea is to ensure demolition won't destroy the aesthetics of downtown.
Favors preservation
Nick Kafantaris of Warren believes the house should be preserved.
"Everyone should be concerned," he said. "It's Warren's history. It's over 100 years old. It's beautiful, and architecturally, it's very pleasing."
Kafantaris, who plans to study architecture at The Ohio State University, says he was in the house six years ago when it was owned by some friends of his, and it was structurally intact. He thinks the Trumbull County Historical Society should take steps to save it.
"It would be nice to have some history in our downtown," Kafantaris said. "Downtown is nothing but parking lots."
Historical Society
David Ambrose, president of the Trumbull County Historical Society, said the society will likely attend the meeting, but it hasn't taken a position on the demolition.
He referred to a site survey of the area done in September 1980 by the city's community development office that said the house, built in 1888, is "one of only several of the houses that have survived from the time when that section of East Market Street was wealthy and residential."
Ambrose just learned about the planned demolition this week and hasn't done extensive research on its history. The house, which bears Queen Anne-style architecture, is not on the National Register of Historic Places.
"It was a beautiful old building at one time," Ambrose said. "It gives an idea of what downtown Warren was like when there were many residential properties."
Broken windows
The large gray home sits between a bakery and other businesses. Some of the windows have been broken or boarded up.
Ambrose said he hasn't been inside the home, but it appears some items such as molding around doors and foundation blocks have been removed.
The historical society is concerned that the city is losing many of its historical homes to parking lots, the president said.
dick@vindy.com