Effort to save Deutsch House hits the bricks

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By Tory Brecht | Thursday, August 28, 2008 |

Ron Peavey, at left, and Nick Engelbrecht remove debris from the Deutsch House on Main Street in Davenport. (Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

The saga of the historic Deutsch house on Davenport’s Main Street ended Wednesday with the business end of an excavator tearing into the home’s brick exterior.

Efforts by a group of preservationists hoping to move the house at 2101 Main St. failed, because of the difficulty in finding a route from the current location to an empty lot at Kirkwood Boulevard and Grand Avenue.

St. Paul Lutheran Church — which owns the house and received permission to demolish it from the Davenport City Council in February — decided it could extend the stay of demolition no longer. Already, church leaders had let a 60-day demolition moratorium and a subsequent extension go long past due.

“No one ever relishes taking down an old house, no matter how deteriorated a condition,” said David Schroeder, president of the St. Paul congregation. “But our church board looked hard at every possibility for the 2101 Main St. house, including even the suggestion of relocating it. In the end, no money surfaced for relocating the house.”

Fritz Miller, a member of the Davenport Historical Preservation — which had unanimously recommended denying a demolition permit before being overruled by the City Council on a 9-1 vote — said logistics, more than money, were the downfall of the attempted move.

“The problem came in that we could not acquire trees that were in the right-of-way on 15th Street,” he said. “There were quite a number of them that would have caused a problem, because the house is almost as wide as the street.”

A volunteer committee called Friends of the Deutsch House, which Miller was part of, had received a bid from Goodwin House Movers of Washington, Iowa, to move the house for $125,000 to $150,000. An anonymous donor, who is a member of the St. Paul congregation, had agreed to cover that cost. In addition, the East Davenport Development Corp. had offered $225,000 toward renovation costs once the house was on a new lot.

In the end, Miller said, the move just wouldn’t work.

“It would have been so much easier if we could have put it on the two empty lots across the street the church already owns, but they wouldn’t talk about that,” Miller said.

Alderman Bill Boom, 3rd Ward, who cast the lone no vote on the demolition issue when it was before the council, said the tree issue made the move more expensive than anticipated. He said he appreciated the church granting an extension to the moratorium, but he wished they would have held off a little longer as he recently became aware of another possible re-use of the house.

“Just yesterday, we approached Genesis Health Systems, because they are looking for a site for a Ronald McDonald House that would provide housing for relatives of patients in the hospital,” he said. “We were hoping that new use would convince (the church) to change their mind.”

Members of the Historic Preservation Commission were “bitter” when the City Council overrode their recommendation to save the house, Miller said. The house, which dates to the turn of the century, is considered historically significant because its Davenport architect, Dietreich Harfst, was an early user of the Craftsman style.

“I really don’t blame St. Paul’s,” Miller said. “I blame the City Council for their vote and not supporting their historic preservation commission. The church was doing what any property owner has a right to do. But the City Council had the right to say no, as they have many times in the past.”

Bill Boom understands the frustration.

“So many times when we talk about Davenport, we talk about how important our history is,” he said. “It’s sad when the council ignores that very important issue when it comes to situations like this.”

The church has been criticized by some in the preservation community for its demolition of other older houses in the Main Street area.

Church leaders said when they purchased the Deutsch home in 2007, they intended to convert it into living space for visiting students, but renovation costs were too high.

Schroeder said the church has been and will continue to be a good neighbor.

“The church will continue its strong work in the community — sharing its facility generously, partnering with area schools and kids, supporting numerous community agencies and caring for the upkeep of its campus, including other historic buildings on its property,” he said.

Tory Brecht can be contacted at (563) 383-2329 or tbrecht@qctimes.com.