Historic Zoning Commission

Fort Sanders NC-1: Level IV

10-G-15-HZ

Applicant Request

Level IV. Demolition or relocation of contributing structure

Demolition of brick shell and any other remaining building elements.

Site Info

KNOWN AS THE "PICKLE MANSION": Two-story frame with brick veneer wall covering and solid masonry construction. Hip roof with lower cross gables and rounded turret, frieze at roof line, terra cotta roof covering. Central projecting bay with gable roof, tripled attic vent windows, applied curvilinear motif at lentils and rusticated stone sill and balcony at second floor. Rounded second-story end opposite rounded turret. One-over -one double-hung windows with multipaned windows and triplet windows on second story under full arches, segmental one- over-one windows on remainder of second story, belt course at top of window line, rusticated quoins around windows. Five-window grouping on first story with eight paned windows under arched transom, remainder of windows are one-over-one double-hung. Transoms above entry door. One-story full front and side wrap around porch with rounded corner pavilion, square stone posts with Ionic capitals on brick piers with stone cap, stone balcony with stone cap, stone cap on buttressing at front steps, dentils under cornice on front porch. Rusticated stone foundation. Interior side brick chimney. Irregular plan. Rusticated stone wall at front sidewalk line. Separate two-story Tudor Revival c. 1925 apartment building at rear. (Contributing)

1) The interior structure of the Pickle Mansion had been destroyed by fire in June 2003 before the current owners purchased it , leaving only the exterior brick walls as a shell with no roof.
2) The current owner renovated the aparment building to the rear of the property with the intent to produce cash flow for renovation of the mansion, but the renovation costs have risen over time.
3) Staff believes the integrity of the architecture has been compromised to the point that the integrity can no longer be reasonably re-established, and that the house no longer noncontributes to the historic district.
4) The letter provided by the structural engineers retained by the owner, Mallia Engneering Company, states that the brick mortar is soft with no binding properties, and that the structure is now beyond repair.