Gill Wright Miller is hoping her research documenting the historical value of a 175-year-old house on the village’s east side — and her plan to buy and restore it — will be sufficient to forestall a request to tear it down.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns the building, located to the rear of the church at
2486 Newark-Granville Road. It is asking the village for permission to demolish it.
The structure is in poor condition after years of neglect, but is structurally sound, according to Miller. The church sees it as a liability and safety problem; Miller says it has become an attractive nuisance to local teens.
Miller has offered to buy the four acres on which the unoccupied home is located for $7,000 per acre. The church is weighing the offer and has not responded. Miller says she is willing to pay the estimated $75,000 cost of renovating the home in order to sell it, most likely as a private residence.
At its meeting Wednesday, Village Council will consider the request after holding a public hearing.
“My request is to deny the request to demolish it,” Miller said in a phone message to the Sentinel. “It is still salvageable. It needs to be preserved as part of the history of Granville.”
Gordon H. Jeffery, facility manager for the church, said he has forwarded Miller’s request to church higher-ups. He said the church is considering whether to split the four acres off the rest of the property and sell it, which would make Miller’s acquisition of the home conceivable. Jeffery said safety and liability issues concerning the home are a major concern.
“We are asking for the demolition in order to be prepared budget-wise, but that in no way indicates the direction the church may go,” he said. Jeffery said he doesn’t expect the church to have an answer to Miller’s offer by Wednesday’s meeting.
Miller is related to William Spencer Wright Sr., who along with his father built the house, according to the Granville Historical Society. Teresa Overholser, head archivist for the historical society, says the home was built in the 1820s or early 1830s; Miller says her research points to a slightly later date, 1838.
Miller has extensively documented the history of the home, which she says is a token of the presence of Wright and his second wife, Samantha Stedman, early settlers of Granville who were “part of the fabric of (its) history and Ohio’s great farm tradition,” she said in a document she provided the village.
Wright settled in Granville when he was two years old and became a leader of the farming industry and an active local citizen, Miller said. She said the house is among the oldest brick farmhouses in the area.
An effort is also underway to place the home on the National Register of Historic Places. Ashlin Caravana, who has been helping with the effort, said the research has been done, but an application hasn’t been filed.
The historical society determined the home doesn’t have historic value. But Overholser said its ruling doesn’t mean there is no value in preserving the structure.
This past winter, the council agreed to postpone a decision on the church’s demolition request to allow Miller time to find a way to preserve it.
Vice Mayor Constance Barsky said she is withholding judgment on whether to vote for demolition until she hears from all parties at Wednesday’s meeting.
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