View full sizeCharles Petty discusses a home that has been in his family since the 1860s. He has filed an application to demolish the home, located at 3611 Frederic Street in Pascagoula.

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — The Pascagoula Historic Preservation Commission is trying to work with two property owners to salvage three of the city’s oldest homes from demolition, but the chances of saving them are slim.

James Platt owns two homes on Front Street that were on the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s top 10 endangered historical places list in 2010, one of which is among the last antebellum structures in Pascagoula. Charles Petty owns a home at 3611 Frederic Street that has been in his family since the 1860s.

They filed demolition applications with the city, but this week the Historic Preservation Commission issued a 60-day stay to see if a remedy could be found to save the houses — or at least some of their contents.

“It’s a very, very sad situation,” said Liz Ford, chairwoman of the commission. “In this 60-day period, we are trying to work with the owners to advertise to see if anyone is willing to move the houses and if there are no takers, then we’ll work with the owners to salvage materials out of the houses, flooring and mantles and such, that can be reused rather than just have them bulldozed.”

Platt and Petty are in similar predicaments.

The old riverfront homes have been damaged by Hurricane Katrina, time and — in one case — termites. Without grant money earmarked for historic projects, it’s not cost effective to restore them. The owners can’t get that kind of grant money because the homes would have to be raised to meet new flood elevations, which would also be too costly. Then, of course, skyrocketing insurance costs would have to be factored.

“They’ve outlived their physical life,” Platt said of the Front Street homes. “A wise, prudent investor would not come in and spend money on these houses. It would be throwing money down a crawdad hole. When I first bought this (seven years ago), I tried to come in and get rid of the termites, but Orkin told me it was too far gone.

“We want to make everyone happy, but we’re not going to make everyone happy. If these individuals that really want these houses, if they really want to come in and buy this place, it’s for sale. Let them buy it. I bought it. We’ll work a deal and give the houses away and move them.”

Platt’s Front Street property is five acres with 535 feet along the Pascagoula River. It’s listed for $3.8 million.

The two houses are the last remaining structures in Pascagoula’s original Front Street Historical District.

The house on the northern side was built by John Delmas around 1840. Delmas, a ship pilot and entrepreneur, was a descendant of Pascagoula’s first settlers.

The adjacent house was built for his son, Charles Delmas, about 1898.

Platt said he’s spent about $1 million on the property after purchasing it, including a new roof on the John Delmas home ‘to make sure it didn’t rot all the way down.”

“They’re just in bad shape,” he said. “You might be able to salvage some of it like the old stair wells, the hardwood floors, the doors, and the walls are tongue-and-groove hard pine, but it will be a big undertaking with a lot of liability.”

Petty said he would like to put a senior care home on his property. The home was built in the 1860s by the Colle family of Colle Towing in Pascagoula.

“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” he said. “It’s been a killer as to what to do. Banks don’t want to lend money for homes in that neighborhood and you can’t get the grants. It’s less expensive to tear that house down and rebuild than to redo it.”

Petty said he received a $30,000 federal grant after Katrina and he’s spent about $15,000 of that trying to secure the home.

He said the low bid on elevating the home 4 feet to meet the flood code was about $60,000 and that the front and back porches would have to be torn off to do that work.

“I hate to tear the house down,” said Petty, holding a photo album that survived Katrina and included family pictures at the home. “My mother and her three sisters and brothers were born in that house. My grandmother and grandfather got the house in 1917. There are a lot of memories there.”

During this 60-day window, Petty said he was exploring some options, including perhaps some BP oil spill restoration money, to help with the property.

All three homes in question are on the National Historic Registry.

Ford said at the end of this 60-day period that the commission would meet again and make a determination on the fate of the homes.

“It’s sad but we have to be realistic,” she said. “You don’t want to lose things. This is part of our history and fabric of our community.”