Contact Michael Galbraith, Historic Preservation Specialist, mgalbraith@archfw.org or (260) 426-5117.
Most Endangered Structures in Allen County, 2010
Fort Wayne, November 17, 2010: ARCH released the 2010 “Most Endangered” list at the annual Design Awards Ceremony this evening. ARCH has announced this annual list of the community’s Most Endangered Structures each year since 1992. This listing includes prominent architectural treasures, local landmarks, and beloved spots in Allen County that are threatened by changing use, vacancy, deterioration, obsolescence, or nearby new development. ARCH announced a call for nominations for the 2010 List in August, and accepted such nominations until September 30. After reviewing the nominations and notifications to property owners, ARCH announced the following list at tonight’s awards ceremony:
Merchant-Huxford House (520 Tennessee Ave.) threatened with vacancy and decay the house was the home of one of Fort Wayne’s early mayors and legendarily contains timbers from the last fort in Fort Wayne.
Brookview/Irvington Park historic district threatened by public works projects including the demolition of most houses south of West State Boulevard.
Fairfield-Nestel House (815 W. Creighton Ave.) threatened with decay and vacancy. The Italianate villa style house was once part of Asa Fairfield’s 240 acre farm.
Humpty-Dumpty sign/Decatur Rd. Scott’s cornucopia sign threatened with the vacancy of the buildings that they once advertised. Represent a generation of large custom-built signs that once adorned the city.
Historic resources on the Taylor University Fort Wayne campus threatened with vacancy and uncertainty over their future use.
1006, 1014 and 1016 Broadway threatened with vacancy and decay.
Parks Dept. historic resources, including the street tree canopy in historic neighborhoods and Foster Park pavilion #3 and other New Deal-era park structures are threatened by non-replacement of adequate numbers of trees, and non-use.
South side of 800 block of W. Washington Blvd threatened with vacancy and decay.
Log cabin on Decatur Rd. is a single pen log house dating to c. 1845. It represents one of only a handful of remaining log houses in Allen County. Deteriorating mortar, broken windows, holes in the roof and vegetative growth on and through the logs threaten the stability of this unique structure.
Two county-owned Byron Health Center houses on the National Register threatened with relocation and possible demolition.
Dawson’s Root Beer stand (S. Anthony Blvd.) threatened with vacancy and decay.
S. F. Bowser Administration Building (FW City Police Headquarters) threatened wit the loss of the principal tenant, and uncertainty over future use.
Removed from the list was the New York Central Freight Depot (4th and Clinton). Threatened with vacacy, decay, and an uncertain future, it was demolished in October 2010.
