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Wednesday, March 10, 2010 |
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Hoermann house razing is postponed
Published February 7, 2010
The Seguin City Council has postponed approval of demolishing structures on the Hoermann property on Vaughan Street where a community park is to be developed.
Assistant City Manager Rick Cortes, in a memo to the council, said the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board had approved a recommendation by Rialto Studio Inc., the firm developing the city’s Community Park Master Plan, to demolish the remaining structures on the Hoermann property which was donated to the city for utilization as a park.
“Representatives from Rialto Studios Inc. ... informed the board and staff that the remaining structures appeared to have no significant historical value and recommended that the structures (house and livery) be removed,” Cortes said. “During the past two weeks fire personnel have responded to two small fires at this location which resulted from persons cooking within the structure. Even though these fires were small, if not discovered in time, they could have resulted in a larger incident similar to the fire at the recently demolished Tony’s Steakhouse.”
As Cortes showed the council some photos of the structures, Councilman Dan Daniels made a motion to approve demolition, and his motion initially was seconded by Council member Mary Louise Gonzales.
During discussion of the motion, it was mentioned that a portion of the Hoermann house was made of limecrete, the 19th century formula for concrete developed by Dr. John E. Park and used in the construction of Sebastopol as well as other buildings in early Seguin.
“Maybe we should save the limecrete section of it,” Daniels said in withdrawing his motion to approve demolition.
Councilman Steve Tschoepe said there needed to be more research on the historical significance of the Hoermann house, and he made a motion to postpone approval of demolition.
“I think we should have a field trip of the council to go out there and look at it,” Mayor Betty Ann Matthies said.
Tschoepe’s motion to postpone demolition was seconded by Councilman Ramon Salazar and approved unanimously by the council. Though no date was set for the field trip to the Hoermann property, the Community Park Master Plan is scheduled to be presented to the council at its Feb. 16 meeting.
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