My Old House

Greetings All!

Just a quick post today:

Last night, the Independence City Council voted to approve declaring (and re-zoning) our property as being a local historic landmark!

Some people have wondered why we’d want to do such a thing?

I find that they usually have some misconceptions about government interference. Yes, we will have to get pre-approval in the future for any changes we want to make to the exterior of our house. But, I’ve looked over the list of what needs approval and what does not. And it is clear to me that if we do all things with a desire to maintain the historic look of the home, we’ll be fine!

The City wants the same thing we do: To preserve this old house with the architectural features on the outside looking as much as possible like it did when the house was originally built. And that includes using the same materials as were originally there, if possible. No vinyl siding !!

Some people think that you have to “run your plans past the City” before you can do anything on the INSIDE of the house. That is simply NOT true!

My wife even thought this means we HAVE to let people in for tours of our house. NOT TRUE!

I don’t know where she got that idea.

Now our house may be LISTED on a historic homes walking tour webpage that the City maintains. And it may end up on some similar flyers. But that’s a WALKING tour. People view the OUTSIDE of the house.

I have no problem with the City of Independence promoting its older, well-kept homes to tourists and interested citizens! That’s fabulous! This old house is, I think, far STRONGER in terms of its core materials than other homes. The rock foundation, the fir 2×4’s, the thicker walls, it’s all pretty strong and has withstood the test of 100+ years.

Some people have asked: what do we get out of it? Do property values go up? Not necessarily. Will it be easier or harder for us to sell our home someday? No one can predict. Some say “harder”, others say “easy, if you market to the right people”. It doesn’t matter to me. We’re not planning on going anywhere.

What we get is to share a bit of pride with the City. It’s a “badge of honor”, if you will. There aren’t very many Historic Landmarks in this city that are west of Chrysler. Still fewer are west of Sterling. We hope that our public pride in this house helps western Independence feel proud as well!

Thanks!

-= Dave =-