Should A Historic Mansion Meet The Wrecking Ball?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 3rd 2009 at 1:01AM

How much responsibility does a new owner have when taking over an architectural treasure? Bright and Spacious points to a Bloomberg story on the owners of La Ronda, an Addison Mizner designed home in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The Mediterranean Revival-style villa may be razed by its current owners who want to build a new home on the property. The owners of the 80-year-old mansion bought the home for $6 million in March. The township's board will decide today whether La Ronda will be immediately razed or if the destruction will be delayed by 90 days allowing time for other actions.

The home does not have federal designation as a historic site. Many Mizner-designed buildings in south Florida, where Mizner designed many homes and buildings, have this designation. The home is the only surviving Mizner-designed home north of the Mason-Dixon line. The township and historic preservation groups want to set up a foundation to buy back La Ronda but that could cost as much as $7 million. Check out the a gallery of Addison Mizner designs and vote in the Save It or Raze It poll on Bright and Spacious.

UPDATE: La Ronda has been given a 90-day reprieve.

Tags: addison mizner, AddisonMizner, architecture, bryn mawr, BrynMawr, la ronda, LaRonda

Filed under: Estates

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Michael Jun 3rd 2009 11:10AM

How sad. Why is architecture so easily dismissed as an art form? If someone bought the Mona Lisa and decided to paint over it, there would be a huge outcry! But important architecture is routinely torn down at the owner's whim. In cases such as this, the 'owners' need to realize they are but caretakers of an important American artform.

Spectacular Bid Jun 3rd 2009 1:57PM

Preservationists certainly have to walk a delicate balance between encouraging owners to reconsider razing or even signifcantly altering a home vs. outright lobbying for restrictions to be placed on owners. No one likes being told by others - especially sans any financial compensation - what they can and cannot do with a home.

You would've thought that some zoning historical restrictions mixed with significant tax breaks for compensation could've been imposed before the property was sold. (This is if there truly is that much local interest in saving it.) As I understand the property has languished for years so this didn't happen over night.

That said I wonder what owner would buy such an historic, rare and seemingly attractive offering which has been underwatch by preservationists for years with plans to raze it? Its odd to me that someone would want so badly to live in a neighborhood knowing they've seriously ticked off the neighbors before they even set foot in the area.