Cape Girardeau's Reynolds House at risk

Watch video tour of the Reynolds House by Dr. Dan Cotner

The Reynolds House is falling apart.

Rescued from demolition in 1981 and mothballed in 1999, the 150-year-old building at 623 N. Main St. is once again at risk.

It hardly looks like a building on the National Register of Historic Places.

"It's in terrible condition," said Dan Cotner during a visit to the home Thursday. He's the immediate past president of the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau, which owns the property. During his visit, he crossed the kitchen's threshold, now spongy wood, and walked over plywood sheets covering holes in the floor.

In September, the historical association rejected a $20,000 cash offer for the home.

"The Reynolds House has become just a nightmare for us," said Bill Port, a member of the historical association. He said the decision to turn down the purchase "was agonizing."

Bill Port of the Historical Society of Greater Cape Girardeau doubts that the Reynolds House in north Cape Girardeau will last through another winter. The shingle roof that was put on in the 1980s now has many holes. (Kit Doyle)

Donna Grantham, the association's president, said the problem with selling the Reynolds House was the potential buyer wanted to tear it down.

James Reynolds ran Cape Girardeau's flour mill. The home he built in 1857 reflects French colonial and Georgian cottage styles. It was Edwin Branch Deane's first architecture project in the city. His last was the Glenn House, which the historical association also owns. Joseph Lansmon built Reynolds House as well as Cape Girardeau icons St. Mary's Cathedral and the Common Pleas Courthouse.

Reynolds died in 1865, but the family kept the home until 1937. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Burton J. Gerhardt bought the property later, but in 1982 deeded it to the historical association after the city threatened to demolish it.

The Reynolds House lot stretches to North Spanish Street, across from the home of Michael Hanebrink, 54. He recently installed a new door and windows on his house. He pointed to the north wall of the Reynolds House, held in place by wood braces installed in 1999 and shook his head.

"I grew up next door. I've lived here all my life," he said. "They should do something with it or tear it down."

Bonnie Stepenoff, a history professor at Southeast Missouri State University, said the building may be dilapidated but can be saved.

"Reynolds House is pristine," she said. "It represents an historical period before the Civil War. There isn't any other property in Cape Girardeau that is so intact from that period."

She referred members of the historical association to Mark Miles, director of the State Historic Preservation Office. He didn't have good news.

Miles said the state's fund for buying and renovating such homes has been redirected to preserve courthouses. Private historical preservation groups are shut out of most funding, he said, which frustrates him.

"They've stepped up to the plate and are often the most significant resources, and there's not a lot of tools to assist them in preservation," he said.

One way such groups can raise money is through the state's Neighborhood Assistance Program, he said. The free application guides groups through the project planning process. Once the state approves a group's project, fundraisers can offer donors 50 percent tax credits. A $1,000 donation would return $500 in tax credits. But, Miles said, "it's fair to say it would take months to get it approved, set up and solicit donations."

Terri Foley, a historic preservation consultant in Cape Gir?ardeau, said that because the home is on the National Register of Historic Places, any changes would have to be approved by the city's historical preservation commission. She said buyers would face bringing it into compliance with city codes.

Still, it remains a structure "with strong integrity," she said, one of the few with its original smokehouse still intact.

Foley, asked to put a value on the Reynolds House, said, "Basically, it's priceless."

Foley said that, though not all buildings can be saved, those like the Reynolds House deserve every effort.

Miles said a private developer could receive tax credits of up to 45 percent for rehabilitating the building.

"We hope it's done in a manner that protects and preserves the building to the maximum extent possible," he said.

A second offer is on the table, but Port declined to give details, saying he'll discuss them at the association's next board meeting.

"I've sort of been the bad guy on the board, saying we can't take care of it and we need to sell it," he said.

In the association's last newsletter, Port appealed for money and has so far seen $1,300 in donations.

Port said he knows one thing:

"If a roof doesn't get on it before winter, we're done for."

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127