Built in 1889, the Reilly-Lehane House on Samuels Avenue on the Trinity Bluffs is a modestly-scaled Victorian that has a remarkable level of original trim and finish. The subject of years-long restoration work by its owners, the home is now up for sale - and developers are knocking at the door.
This Victorian-era house in one of Fort Worth’s oldest neighborhoods is in desperate need of tender loving care. Samuels Avenue is now experiencing the same level of change and destruction of historic houses that took place on Summit Avenue and Penn Street decades ago.
If a caring preservationist cannot be found to save the Reilly-Lehane House, current owners will be forced to sell it to developers who plan to demolish it.
As many of you know, I am a fan of both new infill development as well as historic preservation, and I’ve got to come down on the side of historic preservation this time. Only one of the historic homes on Samuels is protected - the Garvey-Veihl house just down the street from the Reilly-Lehane. Preserving more examples of the historic former character of Samuels would provide context and texture to the newly emerging Trinity Bluff neigborhood, and it would be a shame to lose the Reilly-Lehane house.
The home is livable as-is, but obviously still in need of restoration work. The home’s sale price is $350,000, so this would obviously be a labor of love for a dedicated preservationist. For more information, and for contact information if you’re interested or know an interested party, visit Historic Fort Worth’s web site about the Reilly-Lehane house.
Wow, I really hope this house can be saved.
If Historic Ft. Worth Inc. is truly “dedicated to preserving Fort Worth’s Historic Identity” then why is this house on the chopping block?
Suzette,
Historic Fort Worth doesn’t own the house. They are trying to get the word about the sale out on behalf of the actual owners who are selling.
OK, I think I understand. I’ll call the guy listed with Historic Ft. Worth Inc. to get a better understanding of how they operate. I would be interested in knowing if HFW sells to anyone who wants to pay for it w/out any agreement that the buyer will not demolish the house, etc. Just wondering how HFW works and how they preserve the properties here in this great City.
Remember, Historic Fort Worth is a private group that has no affiliation with the city. They try to get the city and property owners to designate properties as historic, with (unfortunately) varying degrees of success.
I called and now understand a little more. Sometimes I get the feeling that there really isn’t a powerful, authoritative, highly influential voice in Ft. Worth for historic preservation. Evidently, long ago the owner wanted to get a historic overlay for this neighborhood but many of the neighbors didn’t want it. Later on one of the persons who held alot of rental property sold it to Tom Struhs and I guess history is in the making as we speak. The culprit is said to be in the fact that the neighborhood Historic Overlay zoning could not be obtained years ago.
Hey Kevin,
I love the site but this post is a little over the top. Years long resortation? Have you seen that house? What exactly have they done?? Plus, a $350,000 price tag? The owners being “forced” to sell? Come on!
The owner is just being a greedy capitalist because the Trinity River Project affords them an out. They clearly do not care about the preservation of this house.
The “forced” wording is Historic Fort Worth’s, not mine. And the owners have, in fact, been slowly restoring the house over the years as time and money have permitted. It has only had two family owners since it was built.
I have been told of the gradual restoration work by a local architect who is familiar with the house, so I trust his word. He wrote:
“The owners have been slowly restoring this home as time and money permitted over the years, but now need to sell. They would prefer not to sell to developers, but have been approached and purchase offers have been made.
Time is of the essence to secure the future of the Reilly-Lehane House because the owners have received valid offers from developers but have agreed to postpone signing a contract until July 15th. If an alternative buyer is found, full unsigned mineral rights go with the property along with a large quantity of free restoration materials. The house is livable and has been pet and smoke free. The property is offered at $350,000 which is in alignment with current land prices in the neighborhood.”
I can’t make myself optimistic about this. If tearing the house down makes all of Samuels Avenue a lovely place in the future, then I don’t see it being such a bad thing to let this go if it means bringing up a whole area back to its heyday. That area currently isn’t the nicest place and $350,000 seems much too steep. I say tear it down, it’s not a jewel like the Aviation Building, Medical Arts Building, or some of the homes off Pennsylvania Avenue.
Maybe if a developer buys it they can move it to Fairmount and resell it.
I think the price tag is all based on location.
Funny comment by Steph, by the way…
Hi Folks,
As one of the aforementioned homeowners and a local preservationist since the 1980’s, I want to give you the real scoop here.
First, we REJECTED in July a valid sales contract for $325K, mostly because the buyers were interested in building 10 LEED certified “green” housing units but only with the loss of the historic home. Since offering the property for sale, not one preservation minded buyer has stepped forward-regardless of price. On the matter of price, the much smaller house and lot behind us at 809 Bennett is listed at $500K, we have since lowered ours to $339.5k from $350k. The owners of the Garvey Mansion at 769 Samuels are currently seeking buyers in the $2 million dollar plus range. Does that make us greedy? What would you do if you were in our shoes and felt it necessary to sell?
For the past five years, little work was done on the house because one of the owners (me) was doing historic preservation construction work in Missouri and California. Due to the other owner’s long term unemployment followed by personal bankruptcy, little money has been available recently to pay for needed work. Presently finances are a little better and it is hoped with cooler weather work can soon resume.
As far as turning back the genie of progress as it sweeps down Samuels Avenue, I see little hope of that happening now. Please be fair to others and learn all you can before rushing to judgment.