Owner Asks for Downtown House to Be De-Landmarked

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City Council will tonight review a request from an owner of a downtown house that currently has Landmark Designation to have that designation revoked, and to also remove it from an East Lansing historic district. Objections are being raised by those who say the house is of substantial historical significance to East Lansing.

Mark Terry, who owns 343 MAC Avenue (shown above), wrote to Council on April 18 of this year, saying, “I would like for you to create and adopt a resolution to form the necessary committee(s) to remove my property at 343 MAC from its Landmark Designation. No definitive premise for the designation can be found, and the anecdotal references have proven to be false.”

Terry also asked Council “to consider moving the boundaries of the Historic District to Linden Street. This would remove two structures from the District that need not be included.”

In response to Terry’s request, Councilmember Ruth Beier put the issue on Council’s agenda.

City records show that the house at 343 MAC Avenue is in the College Grove Historic District. If Council were to follow both of Terry’s requests, the house would no longer be designated as a Landmark and would also no longer be in a historic district. This means Terry and future owners of 343 and 329 MAC Avenue would no longer be subject to the restrictions associated with altering properties in a historic district.

John Kloswick has written to Public Response, a “community email newsletter,” to explain that 343 MAC Avenue was designed by the architect Harold A. Childs. According to Kloswick, “Childs was a local architect who designed and later lived in the house, which was the subject of a City Pulse ‘Eye Candy’ profile.”

City records show that “Architect Harold A. Childs designed this house,” built in 1911, “for his father-in-law Samual Cochrane. After Cochrane’s death, it became Child’s own residence.” The home was later occupied by Lelle Childs Robertson, Child’s daughter.”

Jerry Mattson wrote to Public Response to opine that, “The architectural legacy of Harold Childs needs to be honored and preserved as a central part of the history of greater Lansing.” According to Mattson, Child’s “designs include the Reuter House (1927; now the English Inn), the Potter House on Cambridge in Lansing  (now the home of Sergei Kvitko), the Capital Area District Library on Ash Street in Mason, The Orchard Street Pump House (1934) in East Lansing (since 1974 the Orchard Street Pump House Neighborhood Center), a second pump house on Audubon St. in East Lansing (now converted into a private home), a house on Butterfield in East Lansing and one on Wildwood also East Lansing.”

Says Mattson, “Childs was known throughout central Michigan for his always high quality architectural design.  343 MAC is his first design project. It needs to be preserved.” (Note: City records say it is “one of his earliest designs,” but does not say “first design project.”)

According to a memo on the matter from Tim Dempsey, Director of Planning, “the property is actually in two districts – the Landmark Resource Historic District and the College Grove Historic District. As a result, it would be necessary to establish a committee(s) to review both.”

City Council meets tonight starting at 7 pm in the courtroom at City Hall. This item is set to come early in the meeting according to the published agenda, following housekeeping and public comments. Check back with our Council Capsule tomorrow to learn the outcome of these discussions.

UPDATE, June 9, 2015, 7 pm: Mark Terry wrote to say the property at issue is not a rental property, so this article was amended to correct that.

UPDATE, June 9, 2015, 9:30 pm: Mark Terry indicatd in his earlier communication to Council that this is a house owned by him, but it appears from assessment records that he may not currently be an owner of the house; it is owned by relatives, including his wife.

Disclosure: Mark Terry and John Kloswick are donors to East Lansing Info.

Reminder: You can communicate with East Lansing’s City Council in person at its weekly meetings during “Communications from the Audience” or write to Council directly at council@cityofeastlansing.com. You can speak or write on any issue involving the City, not only what is on the published agenda.