GOLD COAST — The developer who's under contract to buy a 19th-century cottage in the Gold Coast has filed for a demolition permit, but there's still a chance the 140-year-old home will be saved.
The permit application was filed June 13, just three days after DNAinfo Chicago reported that the two-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot cottage at 1241 N. State St. was set to be sold to a developer, city records show.
The developer isn't named in the application, but it plans to tear down the home built in 1872, a year after the Great Chicago Fire. The cottage was built for laborers tasked with rebuilding the city after the blaze, and is the last one standing in a neighborhood better known now for mansions and mid-century high-rises.
Dave Matthews with the latest on the last Gold Coast row house.
"It's terrible," neighbor Susan Messinger said. "We have to be in contact with our history; we can't keep tearing this stuff down."
RELATED: 140-Year-Old Gold Coast Cottage Sold, Will It Face Wrecking Ball?
A teardown would follow that of many other vintage houses razed to make way for new condominium buildings, shopping centers, or bigger single-family homes Downtown. Though the cottage lies in the Gold Coast Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, the distinction simply grants tax credits to a homeowner working to preserve the property instead of protecting the cottage from demolition.
But there's still a chance the home could be spared from a wrecking ball.
The cottage is one of 9,600 buildings considered to have enough historical significance to warrant a 90-day demolition delay. That allows city officials time to explore alternatives, such as giving the home landmark protection.
The hold worked for three vintage buildings set to be demolished on nearby Bellevue Street two years ago when city officials ultimately convinced those developers to keep the properties intact.
Demolition alternatives are devised by the city's department of planning and development, then relayed to the city's commission on landmarks for consideration. Peter Strazzabosco, the city's deputy commissioner of planning and development, declined to say whether the department would work to save the Gold Coast cottage.
The home is under contract after being listed for nearly $1.5 million earlier this month. It has vintage charm, but is also in "severe disrepair" and doesn't have any kitchen appliances, co-listing agent Stefanie Lavelle of Coldwell Banker told DNAinfo Chicago last week. The home sits on an extra-long lot that could be developed or remain a nice backyard that's rare in the neighborhood, she said.
The cottage "is a special place, but it’s sitting on a gold mine," Lavelle said earlier this month. The home is being sold by the estate of a man who died last year.
Hunter Andre of Coldwell Banker, who is representing the developer in the deal, did not return a message seeking comment.
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