Cincinnati Preservation Association (CPA) preservation director Margo Warminski has written an e-mail to Waverly House Auctions asking them to reconsider a June 13-14 estate sale of the furniture, fixtures and architectural details from the 17-room*, 7,870-square-foot mansion at in North Avondale.
Warminski says that the Jacobethan Revival house is historically and architecturally significant to the neighborhood, part of a proposed historic district encompassing Rose Hill and Beechwood avenues that is currently under review by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office.
"The house was built in 1906 for C.H.M. Atkins, proprietor of Warner Elevators, one of the nation's leading elevator manufacturers," Warminski says. "It was designed by Werner & Adkins, a distinguished architectural firm who designed many other fine buildings in the neighborhood."
On their website, Jamie and Michelle of Waverly House Auctions call the estate sale a "treasure hunt", saying that their goal is to sell everything.
"This is NOT an auction," the website says. "This is a 'you find it, you buy it, you take it home' sale. Once you have created your 'pile', we will settle on a reasonable price."
A new owner, whose name has not been disclosed, wants the property stripped so that he can modernize its finishes and mechanicals.
"We have heard that energy efficiency concerns prompted the decision to sell the windows," Warminski says. "By working with a qualified contractor with extensive restoration experience, it is possible to install modern utilities unobtrusively and greatly improve energy efficiency while keeping a house intact."
Paul Wilham, an architectural consultant who is currently restoring a historic house in South Fairmount, has reported extensively on the sale on his Victorian Antiquities and Design blog.
Wilham agrees with Warminski's assessment, and, in a post yesterday, reported on a communication that he received back from the auction house.
"The owner only replied that he intended to modernize the home and to make it more energy efficient by replacing the windows with modern, as well, he explained that due to the old wiring, many walls and floors were going to have to be severely damaged and/or removed, and because he is intending to 'update' the home, he thought there would be buyers that have historic homes that could use these items, or people who would like to add historic architecture to a new structure," the communication said.
Wilham questions that explanation.
"Auction houses routinely deal with historic property," he says. "Any auction house knows that removal of historic detail adversely affects the value of historic property. Many reputable auction houses now refuse to sell or assist in the sale of salvage items."
Wilham believes that there may be other reasons why the property owner wants to strip the house.
"So either the property owner is being deliberately misinformed by a 'hack contractor', or there is some 'hidden agenda' for this property such as conversion for nursing home use or offices," he says.
Whatever the reason, the house will be less valuable if it's stripped, Warminski says.
"Its value will greatly diminish, it will be much harder to sell, and it will be very unlikely that it will be restored," she says. "Also, features such as mantelpieces and flooring have little value once they are removed from a home. You would likely realize a greater profit by selling the house intact."
* Waverly House Auctions lists the house as having 25 rooms.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
CPA urges auctioneer to reconsider sale of mansion's fixtures, details
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What's even more appalling and frightening is that the house is located on a stable street adjacent to well cared for and intact houses. It's criminal to even entertain such an approach to "updating"
Who is this "new"(?) owner?
At least Evelyn Baskin kept one of her many pieces of real estate in decent condition. The rest have been nuisance properties in Mount Auburn for years.
What a shame.
Update: there isnt an owner! The property was part of a foreclosure hearing held recently. The court awarded in favor of interest to US BANK. The house is set to be sold at Sherriff's auction on June 18th! minimum bid 140K.
There is no legal authority of anyone Except USBANK via a sherriffs sale to sell anything! It is highly doubtful anyone has the authority to even enter the property given a grant of foreclosure was granted by the court.
I sent an email to Waverly Auction with a link to the court case and the Sheriffs sale, I have not received a response yet but it is likely they had NO CLUE about the ownership issue or the impending sherriffs sale.
I spoke with Margo at Presrervation this morning and gave her the name of the attorney representing USBANK. It should be possible to get a court injunction by their attorney to stop the sale of anything attached to the house.
Paul, I have heard the same thing. This "new owner" apparently has no legal right to sell anything. If this is so, the sale will be off.
I'm looking into it.
THIS JUST IN: Citing "legal issues' with the estate the tag sale by Waverly Auctions has been cancelled!!! This has to be good news but it would be wise for the neighbors over there to keep an eye out on the house.
It would appear that only the sheriffs auction and US BANK have any legal right to enter the property. So if stuff is being yanked out Call the sheriff.
A big "thank-you" Paul for being on top of this before it happened and making it known to others. If you hadn't, I'll bet the sale would have gone on as scheduled with no one knowing anything. So far - so good.
If US Bank owns the house because of foreclosure and the owner is deceased, who signed up the auction company?
Obviously the auction company isn't saying much as they have to be embarrased by the situation. From what I understand they were approached by someone claiming to be the heir, "real or imagined', and hired them to do the sale. This person concocted the remodling story to cover the sale of the fixtures. This person had no legal rights to the property because at that point USBANK had the award and the sheriff's sale was set.
I would assume that the auction company will take some sort of legal action as they are no doubt out a lot of manhours cataloging and monies to advertise and arrange the sale.
Clearly this person needs to be in jail for running a con. I bet the auction house will be more carefull in the future but this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened.
At this point, I would assume that if someone buys it at the sheriff's sale they will get everything inside of it. So if you figure minimum bid of 140K the contents could be worth thousands so sombody will get a good deal. If no one bids then the bank will likely hire somebody to clean the place out to list it with a realtor and the stuff winds up in a dumpster.
Neighbors are keeping an eye out at this point because NO ONE has a legal right to enter other than the sheriff and reps of the bank. Hopefully some preservation minded person buys it. At 140K its a bargain!
Jail sounds good for this sheister. Kudos to the auction company if they delayed this for their suspicion.
The auction house went ahead with the sale--they used another company that they own to pull off the sale. I think everyone should email this auction house to let them know that you'll never patronize another of their auctions again:
I was at the sale this morning and there was nothing being sold other than the belongings of the previous owner by her nephew. Underneath the 25 rooms of 13 years of hoarding the house is in amazing shape.
I also went to the "sale" to see the house this afternoon about 3:30. Wow, what a house! The inside really is in amazingly good shape. All that junk and clothing probably acted as protection. I sure hope the right person ends up with this house. Was this house ever on a neighborhood house tour a long time ago?
I was at the sale as well. The house is in horrible shape. The contents are nothing more than junk. Some charity may want some of the clothes. It will cost thousands of dollars just to clean the place up. There is no cooling and the boiler is the original coal fired unit that has been converted to gas. It will have to be replaced to begin to be able to afford to heat the place. The electric needs to be updated as well this can be done with minimal damage to this beautiful gem. I would estimate that to just make it livable and repair the age related damage would cost around $200K. I am interested in this property as a place to live but the taxes are too high. I called the auditors office and they said you can try to get the taxes lowered starting in January 2010. If anyone has any information about the taxes i would be greatful to hear it.
^ Sorry but this house was not in "horrible shape". The inside was in remarkably good condition - unspoiled by tacky tastes or by trying to make the house something it isn't. The floors were good. the woodwork was good. the plaster was good. There were two noticeable water leaks. The sooner those are looked at the better. Luckily the roof is a red tile roof that will last forever if properly maintained. Some of the bowed window sashes need repairing. The exterior especially in the back needs some attention like repairing and painting. Some of the terrace stone work needs tuck pointing etc. It is a big house - the maintenance won't be cheap. Like a lot of big solid old houses it probably stays cool inside and has good air circulation. The kitchen could use some help. As for the cost of cleaning the place up; all that is needed is a dumpster or four, and five hundred trips back and forth. If you can walk you can do it yourself. I have seen houses in horrible shape and this one doesn't come close. Someone may get a really good deal.
We had our taxes lowered. Be sure to take photos of every major problem to support your case and have estimates for fixing them.
We had our taxes lowered too. It wasn't that hard, just based it on purchase price and took lots of photos of what bad shape it was in.
Sheriff's sale 6/18.
Update for those interested in this property, I just posted this on the neighborhood listserve:
Plaintiff's attorney had winning bid at $190K this morning -- monies owing
probably exceed even the appraised amount of $210K. If that assumption is
correct, then look for bank to offer to the market through realtor -- no action
likely for at least 30-60 days.
To all, please keep a watchful eye on this important
architectural beauty in the coming months and hope nothing nefarious befalls
her!
PS. We observed plywood over the sunroom doors after weekend auction -- hopeful
this is nothing more than the bank meeting its obligations to secure the
property.
^ Since when has a bank ever met its obligation to maintain a property? (That's the cynic in me.)
Thank you for the update. Please continue to monitor the situation, and please feel free to e-mail me or Paul if there is anything noteworthy going on.
Highly doubt the bank already secured the property when that plywood went up. I work for a foreclosure law firm
but we did not have that property. It takes the banks some time to get someone out to these properties because they have so many foreclosed properties. Even though the bank was awarded judgement, the heirs of Evelyn were legally able to take the personal belongings in the property until the sale confirmed. Obviously we would hope they wouldn't take the fixtures or any part of the house.
Windows are now missing at the back of the house where the dining room is. While the sale was going on that time I still noticed the windows.
The other properties this lady owned in Mt Auburn are probably being torn down at this moment. Sunday they were fenced off and the windows out. Way to "build" Cincinnati - just tear it all down.
^ I can tell you that elements of those two houses are going to be salvaged and used in a couple of other projects in the neighborhood, if there can be any upside to a demolition.
More on this over the next couple of weeks.
The house has just been listed for sale @ $219,900 in the mls. Any buyers out there who would be sympathetic new owners? Here is a link to the listing: http://cincy.rapmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Cincynky&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMENT=%2B7A%2BzGSaAFhGNe4ivHlvRUJ3bUfBA7r9EKePZjoxBXg%3D&KeyRid=1
I would imagine the house will sell, there are several people interested in it. Unfortunately there were at least two incidents of architectural theft after the sheriffs sale of leaded glass windows, meaning whomever buys iit is looking at 7-10K to have those windows recreated. Fortunately I think the neighbors may have photos of what they looked like.
This is one prime example of how the preservation community needs to stay alert. Especially in this age of foreclosures that are now affecting higher end properties.
Hopefully , despite all the problems, this house will embark on happier times.
I just notived this property went back on the market. Any Idea what has happened in the last year. Such a beautiful piece of atchitecture id hate to see it go to shambles
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