Owner halts plan to raze Saratoga Springs house

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Coleman

The owner of a historic home at 66 Franklin St. has decided he doesn’t want to demolish the three-story house and has placed it on the real estate market.

For almost three years owner Joseph Boff sought city permission to level the 1871 Winans-Crippen House, which is located in the Franklin Square Historic District.

Boff told city officials during this process he didn’t think the old house could be saved without spending excessive amounts of money.

Some city officials had complained that the house was in disrepair and at least one official, Public Safety Commissioner Richard Wirth, described the house as an “unsafe structure” this spring.

But there is renewed hope to save the house. Samantha Bosshard, executive director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, said Friday that Boff, a resident of Naples, Fla., is asking the Preservation Foundation to help him market the property. She said the foundation has agreed to help him.

“We are really thrilled to have the opportunity to find somebody to rehabilitate it,” Bosshart said during a telephone conversation. “We are happy it’s on the market,” she said.

Boff is selling the historic home and a vacant lot next to it for about $600,000, she said.

Bosshart said Boff has withdrawn his application to the city’s Design Review Commission to demolish the building. Last fall the building issue was referred to City Court and city Judge Jeffrey Wait ruled that instead of demolishing the building, as some city officials wanted, it should be stabilized and secured.

Public Safety Commissioner Wirth said Friday there have been no recent issues with the building. “My concern is public safety,” Wirth said. “From time to time we will be inspecting the location as we do structures throughout the city,” Wirth said.

“We have an opportunity to find a buyer who appreciates the historic qualities and potential of a property located in an historic neighborhood in the heart of downtown Saratoga Springs.” Bosshart said.

“We will do everything we can to work with Mr. Boff and his Realtor, Roohan Realty, to find a way to preserve the Winans-Crippen House and develop the adjacent lot in a way that complements the Franklin Square neighborhood and contributes to the vitality of our city,” she said in an emailed statement,

The Foundation is now preparing a marketing plan for the property highlighting its history.

The building was designed by prominent Saratoga Springs architect John D. Stevens, who also designed the now gone United States Hotel and the Grand Central Hotel that once lined Broadway in the 19th century.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a “contributing building” to the Franklin Square-West Side Historic District.

The home was built in 1871 by local merchant David Winans and is designed in the Second Empire style that was popular at the time of the Civil War.

Although damaged from weather and interior demolition, the house is structurally sound and can be repaired, according to Donald Friedman, a structural engineer and author with expertise in historic buildings whom the Preservation Foundation retained to evaluate the building.

Initial steps of the marketing plan are to feature the building on the Foundation’s website — www.saratogapreservation.org — and list the property on national historic property real estate sites.

Those interested in buying the property should contact Bill Walker at Roohan Realty at 587-4500.

Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that promotes preservation and enhancement of the architectural, cultural and landscape heritage of Saratoga Springs.