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April 6, 2011
Dear Mr. Hoover,
Your email concerning the William
Murphy House was forwarded to me for
response. First, let me assure you
that The Nemours Foundation did not
come easily to the decision to
request a demolition permit for the
house. We first asked DelDOT to
give the house to us in 2004; it was
given to us in mid-2008. During the
time that DelDOT owned the house it
deteriorated and that process
continued, of course, during the
four years we were trying to obtain
control of it. As part of the
negotiations with DelDOT, they
shared with Nemours cost projections
of approximately $1.2 million for
the restoration of the building. We
felt those numbers were vastly
inflated. As soon as the property
became ours, we hired John Milner
Architects to study the condition of
the house and to put together some
rough cost estimates for its
adaption to office space. Their
estimates were considerably lower
than DelDOT's projections, but at
$885,000 still excessively high for
an investment in office space in the
current economy.
In
adddition, the road work conducted
by DelDOT around the house resulted
in "right-turn entry only" for the
property on both sides. That is not
an insurmountable obstacle, but it
is a handicap to the location.
We
regret that our decision to seek a
demolition permit has led you to
assume that The Foundation does not
care about the community, but as
your email rightly notes our primary
mission is to provide first-class,
quality health-care to children. In
the current economic climate The
Foundation has concluded that
$885,000 would be better spent on
that care rather than on the
conversion of the William Murphy
House to office space. I have spent
more than thirty years as a
professional historic
preservationist and I believe that
is a reasonable conclusion.
As I hope you know, The Foundation
is offering the house free to anyone
willing to re-locate it. We hope
that someone will chose to take
advantage of this opportunity. I
also hope you know that the New
Castle Historic Review Board
has chosen to recommend that our
request for a demolition permit be
granted. They do not lightly make
such recommendations, and their
decision to do so in this
case underscores the unfortunate
circumstances that have come
together to make the retention of
the house in its current location so
difficult.
Sincerely,
Grace Gary
Executive Director, Nemours Mansion
and Gardens
April 12, 2011
Dear Mr. Hoover,
I have attached the
requirements for being
considered for ownership of the
Murphy House. We would be
delighted if it worked out for
you to move the house. However,
I must disappoint you by saying
that I am totally at peace with
The Foundation's plans for the
house. I spent the first 20+
years of my career working with
grassroots preservation groups
to save buildings. I was
regional director of the
National Trust's Mid-Atlantic
Region (when it was still a
regional office and not a field
office), I was executive
director of Preservation
Pennsylvania, and I was
executive director of Heritage
Aspen. I was also chairman of
the Philadelphia Historical
Commission's Designation
Committee. I do care about old
buildings and prefer to see them
preserved (I've also been
directly involved in saving
quite a few), but I also feel
that things must be in balance.
It is my sincere professional
opinion that the house has lost
all context and that the costs
of renovation far out-weigh the
benefits, especially when you
consider that The Nemours
Foundation laid-off 240
employees during the beginning
of the recession and now
proposes to make a
stretch-investment in building a
large addition to AIDHC. It is
always tempting to spend other
peoples' money, and you are
right that The Foundation has a
large endowment, but I,
personally, cannot justify
spending double the local "per
square foot" rental cost for
first-class office space on a
small, vernacular building that
no longer has any historical
context.
The first thing The
Foundation did upon finally
being given title to the
building was to hire John Milner
Architects to conduct a
condition-assessment of the
building with the intent of
beginning the process of
adapting the building to office
space. Milner's estimate was
nearly 50% lower than DelDOT's
estimate, which was by that time
several years old. I think that
fact alone should illustrate
that we were acting in good
faith. It may or may not be
possible to reduce that cost
further, but you have to
remember that fire and safety
codes are different for an
office than for a house. One of
the problems with the house,
from our point-of-view, is that
it has a "winder" stair. That
will not meet code. Replacing it
with a straight staircase, or
one with a landing, will eat up
a lot of the available first
floor office space. When
combined with the other issues
involved in adapting this
building to office space, I am
comfortable that the expense
does not justify the end result.
Especially when weighed against
The Foundation's mission of
providing health care to the
elderly and children.
Had the recession not
occurred, I think it is very
likely that we might be in a
different place today.
And, finally, in answer to
your question about "why
August"? That is the date when
the HRB's time clock runs out.
We have not scheduled the
demolition, but we probably will
act shortly after the time
period is over. There are a
couple of reasons for this:
first, the last thing anyone
wants is for someone to get hurt
over there; and, secondly, even
if we dramatically improve the
way DelDot "moth-balled" the
building, buildings deteriorate
when they are left empty--
that's what happened to this
building while it belonged to
DelDot and we don't see much
point in just letting it get
into worse shape. Our interest
in asking DelDOT for the
building was to try to create an
attractive entrance to the
Hospital; that's still Nemours'
main goal.
Mr. Hoover, I am being
completely honest with you about
my own professional opinion on
the preservation of the
building, on the likely cost of
rehabbing the building, and on
the issues The Foundation faces.
I feel your interest in the
building is sincere, and now
that I know you have the good
taste to hire Edgar Tafel, I do
understand that you genuinely
care about buildings. Actually,
The Nemours Foundation does,
too. This is just a situation in
which everything came together
at the wrong time and in the
wrong way. Should you wish to
investigate moving the building,
I would be happy to meet with
you and to take you through it.
Let's find a way to work
together to make this a win for
everyone.
Sincerely,
Grace Gary
July 6,
2011 - Upon review of the
website, Grace Gary had these
comments:
I would suggest two small
changes. 1) It turns out
that we could request a
demolition permit earlier
than August 3. I don't know
when we will request a
permit, but I do not want to
mislead anyone and have them
then feel they were
"skunked." At the same
time, I realize that you
want to motivate people to
act, which requires a sense
of urgency. Do you think you
could change the date to
reflect that demolition may
be "immenient"? And, two,
thank you for the kind words
about me, but it isn't just
me that is responsible to
the Board of Directors. The
entire Foundation, including
the Board of Directors is
responsible both to Mr.
duPont and to the IRS to use
our funds for the purposes
set forth in Mr. duPont's
Will and in our Articles of
Incorporation. Preservation
beyond the Mansion and
Gardens is not included in
either.
As to the demolition date, I
will keep you informed, but,
please, be aware that
legally we may now request
it at any time.
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