Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Historic home free to willing movers

The owners of a historic home on the North Side are planning to tear down the 1904 house and replace it with a larger home.

Members of the Spokane City-County Landmarks Commission have asked the couple to try to find someone who will take the house and move it to a new location.

The house is located across Evergreen Street from the Spokane River in a quiet neighborhood.

Felix and Jan Martinez appeared before the commission last week seeking a certificate of appropriateness for the demolition. The commission has up to 90 days to consider the issue and may decline to issue a certificate.

However, the property owners still would be able to demolish the house without a certificate from the commission, which could require the couple to provide photographic documentation of the house.

“This house is 103 years old,” Felix Martinez said in explaining that the house is badly in need of modernization.

Gary Copeland, an architect and builder hired by the Martinezes, recommended tearing down the house because the cost of modernization would be too high. A new house designed by Copeland would incorporate a period façade.

“From an architectural point of view, we think we are making it a much better building,” Copeland said.

The Merrill-Edmunds House won a listing on the local historic register in 2002 under a previous homeowner.

The house is considered a good example of a Craftsman bungalow and is one of few early 20th century houses along the Spokane River, according to the city-county preservation office’s Web site.

The house was designed by prominent Spokane architect W.W. Hyslop.

The first owners were Fred S. Merrill and his wife, Annie, owners of Merrill Typewriter Supply and Repair Co. Later, the house was the home of Washington Water Power Co. inspector Francis Edmunds and his family for more than 50 years, the historic listing says.

The Martinezes bought the two-story house in 2004 for $500,000. It was assessed at $242,000 for 2008. The home has 1,168 square feet on the main floor.

Felix Martinez said he had asked a builder to investigate whether the house could be moved, but no nearby lots were found. And the cost of moving the house would be $70,000 or more.

The Landmarks Commission asked Martinez to continue seeking a way to move the house, which Martinez said he would give away to someone willing to take it.