Landmarks Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Good evening. The Memphis Landmarks Commission is hereby called to order for its regularly scheduled meeting of August the 27th, 2026.

Thank you. Thank you.

All motions by this commission will be made. All those governing the commission

Also, the whole thing. Good afternoon.

Raymond West, 7802 Red Firm, Circle North. Yes. Yes. Yes, every bit of it. I mean, we agree to all the conditions, so we don't have any issues.

Good afternoon. My name is Ankit Verma with DPD. So this is COA 2096-080. For 1182 Agnes Place, located at historic district. The applicant is proposing to construct a new one-story single-family residence with a detached ADU at the rare property. The property is currently a vacant lot. This slide shows the site plan with a main house facing Agnes Place and detached ADU at the rare. This slide shows the proposed elevation of proposed primary residence with a general compatible with the historic district of the neighborhood. This slide shows the proposed ADU flow plan located at the rear of the property. Here you can see the elevation of ADU. The proposed residence is compatible with the surrounding buildings in terms of height, scale, setback, and materials. The proposed roof shape, orientation, openings, and rear ADU is compatible with the historic character of the neighborhood. Staff recommend approval with 13 conditions as outlined in the slide. This concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions.

I do. Martin Lipinski, 774 East Snowdon Circle in Anzale-Snowdon Neighborhood Association. The Neighborhood Association welcomes infill properties, especially if they are in conformance with the historical character of our neighborhood. We appreciate the staff taking time to review the comments we submitted, and we appreciate the developer for going along with these comments. So everything is in pretty good shape. We do have one concern, however, and that is with the driveway. There is an open alley in the back of this property. With the driveway designed as submitted, it is gonna be a defacto parking pad in front of the house. That's what people will do. They will not drive to the back, they will park right in front of the house, and that's where their car will sit. And that's something that is discouraged. We suggested that perhaps their consideration be given to accessing the property from the rear for a permanent parking location. And that's really one of our primary concern that was not addressed. One other thing which is not in the purview of the Landmarks Commission, and that is we hope that this property would be owner-occupied rather than rental. We believe that owner-occupied homes contribute to the stability and health of a neighborhood. Thank you. I can't tell you. I don't really know. It is not a paved alley, but it is clear. I rode past her the other day, and it is clear of debris, so vehicles can definitely negotiate the alley.

So on District Island, do not specify required parking to be accessed from the alley, so that's why.

Yeah, I just want to say the intent was to use the existing parking and make it compliant with extending past the house to 20 feet. I think it's unfair to have to really pay half that alleyway to access the two properties. The whole reason why the homes are turned the way they are on the property, so we can use those existing driveways. That's it. You're welcome.

I might mention one more thing. It's not bad, but the recommendations from the staff will require some changes in the design of the property a little bit with overhangs and other things. So I just want to make sure that that's taken care of and that we will be monitoring to make sure that that's done. Okay. I just want to make sure that we welcome you in the neighborhood.

Hello. Keith Osterbrink, 2601 La Verne, Nesbitt, Mississippi. I do. Pardon me? I've spoken with him by email. Yes.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Ayesha Penzis with the Division of Planning and Development. Item before you is COA 2026-085, 1813 Linden Avenue in Central Gardens. The applicant is requesting COA for demolition of the primary structure. Here is the subject property. It's a one and a half story Tudor revival structure built around 1900. And they're proposing to demolish the existing structure due to extensive damage because it was sitting vacant for quite a while since 2005. And they had the property. listed for sale for the last three years without any luck. So they applied for a demolition to demolish the structure, clear the lot and sell it hopefully to a new buyer to develop. So the Central Gardens design guidelines are very specific about demolition and under what circumstances it should be allowed. First question, does the property have historic significance? Yes, the building is considered contributing structure to Central Gardens Historic District and its historic setting and significance is not lost. retains its historic integrity. However, the engineer's report that was provided by the applicant lists multiple issues, including extensive water and termite damage that would require repairs before the structure can be occupied. As I mentioned before, its historic significance and integrity is remaining. However, Again, the engineer's report lists multiple issues and the applicant provided proof that the property was listed to be sold since 2023 without success. So they actually tried to sell the property before coming to us for demolition. And lastly, if demolition is allowed, the building must be thoroughly documented. The applicant actually sent me some photos documenting the exterior conditions of the original structure after I prepared my staff report. So here are the photos supplied by the applicant here. As you can see, it's a total revival structure, very beautiful, There is some extensive damage to the roof, to the foundation, and walls, the chimneys, et cetera. Here are some other photos from the rear of the property. So as staff, we are not making any recommendation, and we are just recommending to take whatever action that the Landmarks Commission deems advisable. However, if approved, we recommend that ABL can provide us detailed photos, which they already did, to record the original condition of the structure before we can issue the demolition COA. This concludes my presentation. I would be happy to answer any questions. Well, based on the previous cases, we had demolition and reconstruction. We usually review the demolition applications in tandem with a new construction in its place. When that happened, we recommended a design that kind of mimicked the original structures, architectural design, and certain details. However, this application only includes the demolition part. of this property and the applicant's wish is to sell the property after the demolition is completed and the lot is cleared. So it would be up to the commission when we get a new application for new construction to follow the architectural details of the original or approve a new design, which is also going to be contextual for the neighborhood and designed by the design guidelines. Well, the law itself, I believe, is big enough to be subdivided based on the base zoning regulations, the current base zoning regulations. So we cannot limit them from subdividing into two lots to develop two separate single family homes. But I believe the base zoning, which is residential single family six right now, only allows single family residential.

I was just gonna give a brief history of the house. The house was built in 1892. It was originally a very small white clapboard house. My husband's grandfather purchased it in 1905 And he added the second story of the house and he added to the back of the house. He did the brick and the stucco facade because originally it was clapboard. So what you see here is not the original structure. His grandparents lived in that house until the mid-60s. After they passed away, my husband's parents and himself moved in there. His father died in 1979, and his mother lived there by herself for 25 years until 2005. Then she moved into the Parkview, so she was still alive. In the meantime, my mother moved to Memphis and moved to the East Button neighborhood. She was by herself. So we lived in Mississippi. We had two elderly mothers living in Memphis that, you know, needed attention and needed to be shuffled around. So... We couldn't do anything with the house at that time. Later on, after all the mothers had passed away, we said, okay, we need to turn our attention to this house and see what we're going to do with it. So we hired an appraiser. I believe it was 2018. She had a very difficult time because it's a small house on a very large lot in Central Gardens, which does not exist. She couldn't find any comparable properties, but she did the best she could. And she said she appraised it at $330,000. So we kind of kept that in the back of our mind. And we talked to several realtors and several contractors to see if possibly we could do something to bring the house up to standards. And the contractors all said, this house is too far gone. It needs plumbing, it needs electrical, it needs central heat and air. And they didn't even address the structural integrity. Just looking at the... The inside, the whole thing needs to be gutted and start all over again. So when we considered all this, we went, whoa, that's way out of our budget. We can't do this ourselves. So we talked to several realtors and we said, we'd like to just sell it as is. And we gave them the appraisal of 330. We initially listed it at 285, did not get any takers. When the contract expired, we renewed it, and we said, okay, this time we'll ask 265. And during that time period, we got one offer for 250, and we said, okay, we'll take 250. The sales contract was written up. We signed it. The buyer backed out at the last minute, so it did not sell. So at this point, we were just at a loss. What are we gonna do with this? Nobody wants to buy it. We had an engineering firm come do a structural integrity, and several people told us it would cost about $400,000 to repair this house. And we just, nobody wants to spend that kind of money to bring this house up to standards. You know, it's a family history. It's all, you know, been in the family. It's not like some celebrity lived there. So, you know, we don't really feel like it has a great historical significance. And the house is just too far gone to bring it up to standards. So we just, we feel like this is our last option is just to demolish the house and sell the property. I can't understand you. We want to just sell the vacant land. Well, everybody that looked at it, you know, when the realtor said, you know, the value in this property is the land. You know, the house is just kind of throwaway. But, you know, the land is where the value is. And nobody wants to deal with the house. I mean, a lot of people are interested in the land, but nobody wants to deal with this house that is just a wreck. I want to add one more thing when you get finished.

Okay.

Thank you. and at a market value. If you look at them, since that's their top property, the top of my building, they're very close to $100,000.

So if they're really trying to get rid of the property, maybe you don't want them to leave that property.

Can I add one more thing? Yes. During the time that the house has been vacant, we've had numerous issues with vandalism. At one point, somebody entered the rear of the house. They went through an attic window, and they fell through the floor, and there's a big hole in the ceiling of the bathroom downstairs where they fell through the floor. Our yard man that keeps the place up, on his last visit, he found a beanbag chair on the front porch. He thinks maybe some homeless person is sleeping there. During a couple of times, my husband has found drug paraphernalia. We just feel like it's a safety and security issue for the neighborhood. So I think that's an important point.

It'll be, um... Okay. Don't forget.

that we could add something that the email... Thank you.

How are y'all doing? Thank you all for having me. I'm Timothy Netter-Eccles, past master of Braden Lodge, number 201. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. I reside at 1753 Farrington Street in the Riverside neighborhood. Yes, ma'am. The building was built around 1900. Okay. The building was constructed around 1900 and it served as the home Braden Lodge, number 201, since approximately 1944. The request is to nominate the property for an individual listing on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in the black ethnic heritage and social history under criterion A. It was built around 1900 as the home of Dr. Daniel W. Fields, a well-known black dentist in the Memphis community around 1944. Bray Lodge moved into this building. They used it for meetings and community activities, and it became an important meeting place for the black community during segregation. It is a two-story stone building with a front gallery roof. Some changes were made over the years, including an addition around 1955 and some windows being filled in. The building still keeps its historic character. The property is being, well, I already read that. A little bit of information about Bray Lodge 201. It was chartered June 23, 1910 under the auspices of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall of Brown Lodge of Tennessee, which was established in this great state in 1870. As you read, we've been over in this same community since 1944. And in fact, two doors down in 1950, our cornerstone was erected at a church that was built in 1950 called Warren United Methodist, which we still use their church as our rendezvous spot when we do things in our community, you know, like community cleanups and stuff. But I've worked with Memphis City Beautiful. I think what we're doing now is thinking outside the box in terms of trying to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Because you can only pass the hat around to the guy so many times before the disbelief sits in you. So you have to do something that's forward-thinking and that's innovative going into the future, even for the brothers that we might never meet. Thank you.