From Preservation Online, the online magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

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Developer Damages Pennsylvania Farmhouse


Story by Margaret Foster / Sept. 10, 2007

A 200-year-old Pennsylvania farmhouse that was supposed to be incorporated into a new housing development is gone, despite a developer's promise to save the William Moore House.

Pulte Homes used a track hoe to remove part of the stone house last month, severely damaging it in the process.

Now the planning commission of East Brandywine may require Pulte to rebuild the farmhouse, which a structural engineer says was damaged before demolition began.

"In my opinion, the whole concept was a little warped—just trying to save two walls. Almost nothing would have worked," says Jim Copenhaver, a contractor for the city's engineering firm, Yerkes Associates, based in West Chester, Pa. He visited the site immediately after the partial demolition and issued a report to the city recommending the structure be razed rather than renovated. "The wood was pretty well rotted, and the stone really had nothing but surface [bolts] holding it together. It definitely needs to be rebuilt if they want to use any part of that structure as an occupied building," Copenhagen says.

Pulte's signed agreement with the township, a settlement to approve the 1,029-house development, stated that the farmhouse would have become part of a clubhouse for the Applecross golf course. In the agreement, the company said it would preserve the foundation and 35 percent of the first and second floors of the building, and the township approved the partial demolition.

"The current plan is for Pulte Homes to come back to the township with a slightly revised plan of construction which would show them reusing the exterior stone that was part of the house for the facade of the clubhouse," says Scott Pearsall of the township's planning department. "We're going to look at that closely to make sure that it mimics the character of what was there before."

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