It has been reported – though unconfirmed – that the contents of a North Avondale mansion have been auctioned off despite the auction house having no legal standing to do so.
An anonymous commenter on both the Building Cincinnati and Victorian Antiquities and Design websites says that Jerry Ball of The Auction Gallery went ahead with the sale of furniture, fixtures, architectural details, and other items left behind by the estate of Evelyn L. Baskin.
It was revealed late last week that a "new owner", who planned to strip the 17-room, 7,870-square-foot Jacobethan Revival mansion at and modernize it, had no legal standing as heir to the estate.
It also was reported through several sources that U.S. Bank had foreclosed upon the property and planned to sell the property at sheriff's sale on June 18, and that the planned estate sale by Waverly House Auctions had been canceled.
The sheriff's sale is still scheduled, with a minimum bid of $140,000.
The Hamilton County Auditor website also lists Baskin as the owner of 2315 Reading Road (1918) and 338 and 342 McGregor Avenue (1911 and 1915) in Mount Auburn, all scheduled to be razed.
Building Cincinnati will continue to monitor this story as it develops.
Previous reading on BC:
CPA urges auctioneer to reconsider sale of mansion's fixtures, details (6/10/09)
VisuaLingual for the Home
1 hour ago
8 comments:
I recieved the folowing communication from jball:
We will not be selling any fixtures. We are only selling all of the personal property out of the house via a tag sale. I informed Glenn, the one who I have contracted with to dispose of the giant clutter of a mess in this house, that we will only sell personal property and no fixtures!
Please stop by Sunday I would love to meet you personally and assure you I have no intentions of selling anything but personal property. I am doing everyone in this community a favor with the disposal of personal property from this place!
Jerry Ball
The Auction Gallery
Sound like the phrase: "We will not be selling any fixtures" is their attempt to legally "distance" themselves from any responsibility. So the person they "contracted' with this Glenn is apparently selling the stuff? The auctioneer knows about it knows it "may" be illegal and "participates' in a tag sale He was sent a link to the court case,prior to this auction by me, It's not like he doesnt know what is going on.
By Sunday afternoon, when I first went, I noticed only one fixture missing of a pair - off of a wall. Could have been recent or not. Some one who went through the house when the sale first started may have seen it or not. All the windows etc. were still there.
The only thing that surprised me was not noticing anyone from the bank there overseeing the removal of the contents still inside, most were outside until it started raining. Not so much for what was removed but how it was removed. Like shoving an organ across twenty-five feet of fine hardwood floors instead of using a dolly or something to protect the floor. People are animals when it comes to "get'n their stuff".
This is the perfect example of how Cincinnati simply "doesn't get it" when it comes to the value of their vintage housing stock and historic structures. We made sure we got us a new logo, though, and we had a poorly-attended press conference where we drooled like mindless zombies over the streetcar project -- but no one talks about the one -- and only reason -- anyone would want to move to this social welfare slum: it's the freakin' historic buildings, you idiots! Keep ignoring that fact to your own doom. Keep rewarding irresponsible behavior. Fools.
Friends of my parents owned this home and our church group met there most Sundays in the early 70s. I used to imagine living in such a fantastic home, with the carved paneling, windowed conservatory, huge dining room, wide staircases, cloakroom, butler's pantry, servants' hallways, etc. I still have dreams that are set in that house. It was a lovely home for their family, two generous doctors who had adopted a number of children.
Too sad to thing that it was packed with junk and would have been stripped if you and others hadn't spoken up. Thanks for calling attention to this and preventing its destruction.
The property is scheduled for Sheriff's sale on the 18th with minimum bid of 140,000.00. I have heard several people are interested.
As for the bank not being there as far as I know they had nothing to do with it. Thats the point. No one had legal authority to sell anything. It was my understanding that the attorney for the bank was contacted and had contacted USBANK about getting the property secured , padlocked and such on Friday but we all know how long that takes with a bank with tons of foreclosures.
In my opinion the ball was dropped at several levels. The bank for not securring the property in the first place when the court judgement came down and changing the locks. The auction house for not stopping AFTER they knew from the court records the guy had no authority.
This situation is a mess and we need better laws to deal with this situation as large historic houses in foreclosure is common occurance given the economy.
Someone needs to be in jail over this in my opinion.
"and we had a poorly-attended press conference where we drooled like mindless zombies over the streetcar project"
I wouldn't call that poorly-attended at all. There were a ton of people there, especially compared to almost every other press conference. And I will add that you're blaming the City for not doing anything with this house when there's little they can actually do, outside of making sure that the laws are being enforced.
Paul...It still blows my mind how they can justify even selling the CONTENTS of the house when there is a question of ownership!
The stained glass windows that were once in the dining room, back of house, have been removed. Now there is ply-wood.
Is it odd that whom ever removed/stole the windows would go to the effort to put plywood over the openings? No one heard or saw anything? The windows will be easy to spot because they are very distinctive.
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