Message #402328

[JoeL]

Wow ... this has certainly been an interesting story to follow.

Although it's worth mentioning that the potentially illegal actions have nothing to do with preservation. It's illegal for a mortgagor (the owner) being forclosed on by a mortgagee (the bank) to try and sell-off any fixtures. It wouldn't matter how historic or un-historic they are. Fixtures are part of the house and therefore the property of the mortgagee.

However, when someone buys the house at auction, the new owner could still rip out all the historic details if he wanted to. Even if Rose Hill is declared an historic district that would probably - at best - restrict what can be done to the exterior. So an owner could be forced to save the windows, but that's about it. I'm not aware of anything that would prevent even a total interior gutting if an owner were so inclined.