HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: TWO CAPE HOUSES ADDED TO NATIONAL HISTORIC LISTINGS

Two homes in Cape Girardeau were recently added to the National Register of Historic Places, bringing the city's number of recognized listings to 11.

The homes are the Pott house, a late Victorian and Italianate design at Themis and Pacific streets, that is owned by Steven and Emily Mellies and the Shivelbine house, a Industrial Revolution and Victorian-style dwelling, owned by Charles and Adele Kupchella.

The National Register is the country's official list of buildings, districts and sites significant to American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture. With a few exceptions, listed properties are 50 years old.

Preserving a place in history is important, but not necessarily as important as preserving a building's architecture, said Brian Driscoll, a member of the city's Historic Preservation Commission.

"A structure must retain enough of its architectural integrity to retain its time and place," said Driscoll.

Researching a building's importance in history is often key to the National Register applications. The process is long and must be approved on a state level before reaching the national levels.

The research for the Pott home, now owned by the Mellies, was actually started by a team of students at Southeast Missouri State University as a course project.

The group used fire insurance maps to determine when the house was built, sometime around 1885.

But when the Mellies applied for state historic recognition, the application was denied.

"They have specific ways things are supposed to be phrased," said Emily Mellies. After another try, the application was sent on for national approval.

Some property owners don't have sufficient resources or time to verify the historical value of their property. But they still want to preserve its place in history.

Some property owners do not have sufficient resources to verify the historical value of their property, but they still want to preserve its place in history.

Local landmark listings are one way to accomplish this. These listings are ordinances created by the city which place property inside a protective zone or preservation zone.

Within those zones, each buildings' architectural integrity or other significant quality remains important. By placing a property on a local listing, future owners are prevented from making changes to alter a facade without the city's permission.

In Cape Girardeau, such a zone could be created to help protect several homes within an older area of the city, but that aren't significant enough to stand alone for a National Register nomination.

There may be a number of structures with the same architectural style which aren't necessarily located side by side, Driscoll said. So "sometimes there are multiple property nominations."

One example is buildings with German architecture that are scattered throughout the city. "These structures are looked at as a group instead of each one individually," Driscoll said.

The advantage to being on the National Register of Historic Places is both public recognition and preservation.

The national register list ensures that a property will be considered when planning any federally-assisted projects. There are also tax credits and other advantages for property owners if the building is used for business purposes.