Group hopes to renovate historic Reynolds House; it is on endangered buildings list

Steven Hoffman pushed through the wildly growing foliage crowding the front porch entrance to the 159-year-old Reynolds House.

Unlocking the boarded up entrance, he stepped into an almost-forgotten part of Cape Girardeau's architectural heritage.

Some of the glass window panes are broken. Other windows have been boarded up. Plaster has fallen from ceilings and walls, littering the wood floors. The paint is peeling off the walls. Dust and debris are everywhere.

"It is in rough shape, but it is not like it is structurally unsound," Hoffman said, adding he sees potential for the structure.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The city government designated it as a local historic landmark in 1996.

Steven Hoffman, coordinator of Southeast Missouri State University's historic preservation program, walks onto the front porch of the historic Reynolds House on Monday afternoon.Laura Simon

Vacant for decades, the building at 623 N. Main St. has been on the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission's endangered buildings watch list since 2014. The commission recently released its 2016 list of endangered historic buildings.

A dozen structures are listed on this year's list, and six have been removed from it. In addition, the Reynolds House and five more structures are on the commission's watch list. Hoffman, a Southeast Missouri State University history professor who directs the school's historic preservation program, hopes the Reynolds House ultimately can be renovated.

In the early 1980s, the house was almost razed to allow for a parking lot. The Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau bought the house in 1982, saving it from demolition.

But the association never restored the structure as a tourist site and more recently looked to sell it.

Businessman Earl Norman now owns the property, having bought it from the historical association in August 2009. He and Hoffman serve on the board of a private foundation that was established several years ago to help preserve the structure. Isle Casino Cape Girardeau, just down the street, also is represented on the foundation. The casino owns property next to the home and has helped to maintain the grounds.

Steven Hoffman, coordinator of Southeast Missouri State University's historic preservation program, maneuvers around overgrown greenery outside the historic Reynolds House on Monday afternoon.Laura Simon

Norman has spent about $50,000 stabilizing the structure, including replacing the roof, shoring up the floor joists and covering up the tops of the chimneys. The previous roof on the house leaked, causing serious damage to the building.

Norman said it was well worth the cost.

"We think it is one of the most historic homes in Cape Girardeau," he said.

The brick home is named after James Reynolds, who operated a steam mill on the Mississippi River. The house, which has a main floor and a half-story above, remained in the Reynolds family until the 1940s. There also is a brick smokehouse on the property.

The preservation commission cited the fact the house remains vacant and no other improvements have been made to the building as reasons for keeping the house on the watch list.

Still, Hoffman, Norman and city planner Ryan Shrimplin believe the structure could be saved.

Hoffman said he would like to see the house turned into a historic preservation museum and laboratory where the university's preservation students would assist in restoring the structure a bit at a time. Students also could serve as museum docents.

As envisioned, the public could visit the house and view the restoration project as it unfolds.

But Hoffman said it all boils down to money.

"What we don't have are the finances," he acknowledged.

Hoffman said while the structure has been mothballed to an extent, more work needs to be done to make the structure usable. The longer it remains vacant, the greater the risk of the structure deteriorating, he said.

Hoffman added the building remains in limbo in part because "it's nobody's top priority."

Fixing it up would take "a lot of work," he said.

Shrimplin, the city planner, said he continues to try to interest developers in repurposing the building.

"It takes somebody who has a vision," he said.

As a National Register structure, renovations to the structure are eligible for state and federal tax credits, Shrimplin said.

Alyssa Phares, chairwoman of the city's preservation commission, said the endangered-buildings list is intended to focus attention on the community's historic structures that need rehabilitation.

The list, she said, is designed to "draw public attention to the structures and to hopefully get people to think about them as more than vacant buildings."

Such structures, she said, are "part of our lives" and the community's heritage. People lived and worked in these buildings, she said.

"They cannot be replaced," she said.

Shrimplin said the endangered buildings list puts "in the public eye that these structures are falling apart."

In recent years, he said, the community has seen some progress in restoring buildings, spurred in part by the city's Broadway renovations.

"There is more interest now in saving these properties," he said.

A developer recently began renovating the old Lorimier apartments on South Lorimier Street, prompting it to be removed from the list. A three-story, downtown brick building on Main Street was renovated and now is a restaurant. That building also has been removed from the endangered list.

Mayor Harry Rediger earlier this week recognized May as National Historic Preservation Month. Old Town Cape, a downtown revitalization group, has embraced the "This Place Matters" national campaign to focus public attention on historic preservation.

This year's endangered structures include two vacant movie theaters on Broadway, a vacant Woolworth's store on Main Street, Fort D blockhouse, a former German saloon at 635 Good Hope St., two houses on South Lorimier Street, two more on South Middle Street and the former Marquette School on South Sprigg Street.

Another structure on the endangered list is the Ochs-Shivelbine House at 1409 N. Sprigg St. Built in the 1920s by Henry Ochs, the house was bought by L.J. Shivelbine in 1962.

The preservation commission calls it "an iconic, historic home."

The one-time fraternity house faces demolition to make way for Southeast Missouri State University's new Greek housing development.

Also on the list is a simple, L-shaped house at 529 Olive St. Built in 1873, the original shape of the house has not changed, even though it was updated in the 1920s and again in the 1950s, Shrimplin said.

Phares, who leads the preservation commission, said the house is important because it is "part of the African American history in Cape Girardeau." The house was built by John Henry Brown, a black man, in what was a predominantly white neighborhood.

Today, the house sits next to an apartment building and parking lot. Another apartment development is across the street. The house also is threatened by broken windows, loss of siding and other damage, the commission pointed out.

The house is one of only two buildings added to the endangered list this year. The other 10 have been on the list for one or more years.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

623 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.