INC NEWS - Historic House Saved From Wrecking Ball (NBC-17 & ABC-11)

[John Schelp]

Historic house move to new home
ABC-11, 18 May 2008, Anthony Wilson (reporter)

There is a new address for an historic house, in such
bad shape that nobody would buy it. 

Moving a house always attracts attention, but the move
represents a big win for Durham preservationists. 

"It feels really good, because there are so many
families that have lived in this house, from mill
workers to supervisors," said John Schelp with the Old
[West] Durham Neighborhood Association. 

"It's the blue collar workers in the factories and
mills that built this town. And the more we preserve
of its history, the more we save the stories that are
in these houses, the better it is for Durham," Schelp
said.

Schelp is one of the people who convinced the former
owner to give the house away when it wouldn't sell; as
Eyewitness News reported back in January.

"ABC 11 really helped put out the word. Got a lot of
inquiries," Schelp said. "And [we] finally settled on
John Martin, who's going to move it to Old West
Durham." 

Martin says the reason he is taking on the challenge
is because the house is part of Durham's past and
present.

"It seems a shame to just send it to a landfill when
it could continue to be a great house for another
hundred years," he said.

"It says that they value what we've got. It looks like
trash now, but it's going to look really, really
good," New Neighbor, Charlie Delmar said.

"When we're all done, done everything, had it
renovated, then I'll have more value in the house than
I've actually spent. So that's great," Martin said. 

Once the house is fixed up, Martin says he plans on
living there.

****

Professor Saves Historic House From Wrecking Ball
NBC-17, 18 May 2008, Jennifer Turk (reporter)

The old prophecy, ‘It takes a village to raise a
child’, took a whole new meaning Sunday morning when
dozens from the Old West Durham neighborhood came to
welcome their newest addition.
 
The neighborhood is now home to another historical
home recently saved from the wrecking ball. The
historic Tate House went on the move from Markham
Street to its new address at the 1000 block of Edith
Street.
 
John Martin, a history professor at Durham Tech,
bought the house with plans to restore it back to its
original look.
 
“I’ve never taken on a project this big,” Martin said.
“But I’m passionate about keeping our history alive.” 
 
The house, built in the [1920’s] will have all its
original doors, windows and molding. Martin says after
restoring the house, he plans to move into the house
and make it his permanent residence.
 
“It’s part of us and we don’t want to let it go and we
want to keep it as much as we can and plus there’s an
environmental aspect instead of sending this to the
landfill we’re going to reuse it,” Martin said.
 
Residents in and around the Old West Durham
neighborhood brought coffee and donuts to watch the
old house make its way down Markham Street, which took
four hours to complete.
 
The house was set to be torn down after Feb. 12 of
this year if no one could buy the house and save it.
Durham’s Historic Preservation Commission had denied
the application to have the house demolished in 2007,
but by law, could only save it once. The owner of the
house and land, Jeff Monsein, began working with the
Old West Durham Neighborhood President, John Schelp,
and the HPC to make plans to move the house.
 
The cost for restoring and moving the house was over
$100,000, but Martin said it’s worth it.
 
“I have the summer off to get started on the house,”
Martin said.