‘Shocking’ photos stop fight against demolition of historic Belleville storefront
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They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
In the case of a West Main Street storefront, about 80 photos of its decaying interior were enough to persuade Belleville Historical Society to stop fighting St. Clair County’s plan to demolish it.
The photos were taken last fall by Scott Tyler, the city of Belleville’s director of health, housing and building. They show holes in ceilings and floors, rotten wood, mold and other water damage, insulation billowing out of walls and debris covering dilapidated furniture and office and household items.
“It doesn’t look good,” said Larry Betz, Historical Society president, who Tyler gave copies of the photos on Friday. “I think we’re going to have to concede that (the demolition) is probably is going to happen.”
Mayor Patty Gregory called the photos “shocking.”
Betz said he still believes the 2 1/2-story brick storefront at 1013 W. Main St. could be renovated, but it would take a “massive” amount of money, and it’s unlikely that a new owner would be willing to do it.
Betz said the case is yet another example of a system that allows owners to neglect historic buildings for years, and by the time city or county officials intervene, it’s too late.
He suggested more cooperation between government officials and preservation groups and enactment of a “landmark ordinance” that protects historically-significant buildings in Belleville.
“I hope we can learn from (the West Main Street experience) and not let it happen again,” he said.
Betz said an employee of the county’s Building and Zoning Department told him that storefront demolition would begin Wednesday.
The woman who answered a BND call to that office Tuesday declined to confirm the date. Anne Markozich, director of building and zoning, couldn’t be reached for comment.
The West Main Street storefront was built in the 1860s, and it’s on one of the few remaining blocks in Belleville with all original buildings intact, albeit some covered with facades or siding. It’s also part of Town of West Belleville Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The county foreclosed on the storefront and took ownership in November. Previous owners had stopped paying property taxes 10 years ago, and their delinquent tax bills got tied up in bankruptcies.
Tyler complained to the county about the storefront’s derelict condition and suggested it be demolished.
“I’ve looked at lots of these properties, and I can tell you there’s no way in the world that this building is coming back,” he said last week.
State grant for demolition
Earlier this month, St. Clair County officials announced that they planned to use money from a state grant to demolish the West Main Street storefront, along with 30 dilapidated homes in Cahokia Heights.
Last week, Betz spoke at a Belleville City Council meeting in favor of pausing the demolition plan to determine if and how the storefront could be saved to avoid a “gaping hole” in the historic block.
Gregory later called the building “unstable” and “falling apart.”
“It’s a danger right now. The brick is falling off,” Markozich said last week. She was referring to an area at the top of the building, where tan vinyl siding has peeled away, exposing loose brick now secured by foam board.
Betz said loose bricks don’t necessarily mean a building is unstable. Neither the city nor the county conducted a formal engineering inspection on the West Main Street storefront.
First Assistant State’s Attorney Dan Lewis, who handled the county’s grant application, declined to answer questions about the storefront’s condition or the process leading to it being slated for demolition.
Lewis emailed the following statement:
“(The building at 1013 W. Main St.) is included in the St. Clair County Demolition Program as authorized by Section 21-90 of the Illinois Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/21-90) at the request of the City of Belleville based upon significant public safety concerns cited by the City.”
After Betz spoke at the City Council meeting, Tyler showed him interior photos from the storefront. Betz and Bob Brunkow, the Historical Society’s historian, agreed that renovation would likely be cost-prohibitive.
Most notably, the previous owners had installed a plastic corrugated roof patterned off clay tiles. It looked good but allowed water to enter the building, according to Betz and Tyler.
Jamie Eros, Ward 2 alderwoman who represents the neighborhood, said she often walks by the storefront at 1013 W. Main St. and considers it the worst of several deteriorating buildings on the block.
“There’s only so much we can do as a city,” she said. “We can’t force people to take care of their properties.”
Eros said city officials don’t take decisions to demolish buildings lightly, and it usually happens only after they’ve gone through a lengthy condemnation process in St. Clair County Circuit Court and exhausted all efforts to find owners and get them to do needed repairs.
Tyler often discusses the difficulty he has reaching people, some from out of state, who buy homes and other buildings anonymously through limited-liability companies then abandon them.
“It’s a big problem,” he said.
Effect on other buildings
Betz and Brunkow predict that demolition of 1013 W. Main St. will damage storefronts on one or both sides of it.
Those brick buildings were also constructed in the mid-1800s as part of the business district of West Belleville, a town established in 1852 that merged with Belleville in 1882. They’re owned by Ronnie Phillips, who operates the Spaces venue in downtown Belleville.
No one responded to a call from the BND to Hayes Contracting, the company hired by the county to tear down the Belleville storefront and 30 homes in Cahokia Heights this spring.
After a St. Clair County Board meeting on Tuesday night, Board Chairman Mark Kern said he didn’t know when demolition of 1013 W. Main St. was scheduled, but he confirmed it would go forward.
“It’s been let,” he said, describing the contract awarded to Hayes.
Kern had viewed the interior photos taken by Tyler. He said Belleville Historical Society hadn’t presented a proposal for renovation or explained how such a project would be financed.
Illinois State Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea) didn’t return calls for comment this week. He helped the county obtain a $2 million state grant for demolitions of “unsafe and blighted” buildings. It is costing $35,800 to tear down the storefront at 1013 W. Main St.
Betz would like to see Belleville officials do more to identify historically-significant buildings at risk and intervene earlier to save what’s left of the city’s rich architectural heritage.
“They don’t reach out to (the Historical Society) for anything, and that really upsets me because we could be of great help to them with Bob’s research and our past history of getting things done,” Betz said.
“I get the sense that this preservation thing is way down on their list of priorities. We may be able to do a little bit at a time, but we’re not really going to be able to tackle the problem without help. That’s why I’m so strong on the idea of passing a landmark ordinance.”
Eric Schauster, the city’s assistant director of economic development, planning and zoning, said officials have discussed a possible ordinance to protect local landmarks, but they sense some residents would resent being told what to do with their properties.
Schauster also questioned how the city would determine which buildings are “historically significant” and which are just old.
“Who has the ability to make it a landmark?” he asked.
Reporter Lexi Cortes contributed to this story.
