Two houses with historic significance to Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighborhood won’t be demolished any time soon, if at all.
City Council members on Monday voted to keep demolition permits from being issued for houses at 1918 and 1920 Crocker St. until the end of February. They also voiced support for a proposal to relocate the 121-year-old houses so they won’t be razed.
The properties could be incorporated into Smokey Row Coffee, 1910 Cottage Grove Ave., where owners Krista and Monte Bennett are looking at ways to expand off-street parking for the coffeehouse.
“The good news is, they’re extremely successful,” Councilwoman Christine Hensley said. “They’re so successful that they’ve created some parking issues in the neighborhood, so we’re trying to work through those.”
No one has applied for demolition permits for either property, Phil Delafield, the city’s Community Development director, said Monday.
As a precaution, Jeffrey Macomber, president of Sherman Hill Association Inc., asked the City Council to take formal action to stop demolition permits from being issued. The houses are “historic assets” the neighborhood association wants to preserve, Macomber said.
Some of the heartburn stems from the demolition earlier this year of a house and garage at 1916 Crocker St., ground that’s now used for parking at Smokey Row.
The houses at 1918 and 1920 Crocker St. are situated outside the Sherman Hill historic district and are not subject to the review of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission when alterations are made.
Hensley said discussions will continue to move toward a decision that works for the business and the neighborhood.
The two Crocker Street houses are owned by Patricia Vajda and Timothy Mangan, according to Polk County records. The Bennetts are reportedly in talks to buy the properties.
The houses were built in 1889 and are considered “contributing” resources “in a National Register-listed or eligible historic district,” according to documentation from the State Historical Society of Iowa provided to the City Council.
If the Bennetts are able to buy the houses, “they would make those properties available to Sherman Hill to move and would provide the equivalent of the demolition cost,” Hensley said.
Officials from Smokey Row were in the audience at Monday’s council meeting, but did not speak.
Smokey Row Coffee has been a popular and successful addition to the Sherman Hill neighborhood since the business opened about a year ago. The coffee shop, cafe and soda fountain occupies a 1918 vintage brick building just east of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway that sat vacant for years before the arrival of Smokey Row.
The Bennetts also have Smokey Row Coffee shops in Pleasantville, Pella and Oskaloosa.
The business is in the midst of applying to rezone the Crocker Street properties in Des Moines from a multifamily residential district to a planned unit development. That proposal is expected to go before the Plan and Zoning Commission early next year.