Aurora takes historic house

Aurora aldermen decided Tuesday to stay in the real-estate business, but to leave the home-moving and rehabbing to the professionals.

Aldermen voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the New England Congregational Church's donation of the 105-year-old Raymond House, 409 W. Downer Place. But it will be up to a private developer to fund the house's move to the vacant city-owned lot at 444 W. Downer Place and other restoration work.

"The agreement indicates that the house be removed from the property on or before Aug. 1, 2009. If it fails to do so, the church shall have the house demolished at the city's cost," Chief of Staff Bill Wiet said.

Aldermen would like the house to end up on the city lot down the street because doing so reduces density on both Downer properties and fills the void left on the vacant single-family plot at 444 W. Downer.

"I favor this project and I think there is a number of good developers out there who would take this on and that's an asset," Fifth Ward Alderman John "Whitey" Peters said. "But I don't think the city of Aurora at some point, if all else fails, should get into the house moving and house remodeling business - not at this time or in this economy."

New England Congregational intends to build a park for its preschool program, and have the option to demolish the house. According to the agreement, however, church officials will appreciate the home's historic value to Aurora.

The house was built in 1903 for attorney John M. Raymond and his family. Raymond served as mayor of Aurora in 1903 and was a leader of the Aurora Bar Association for almost 40 years.

"It is the benefit of the city to move forward in this manner because this gives us the opportunity to reduce the density on two very important properties on Downer with the possibility of moving a very nice house, which we all know, these types of houses can't be built today," Sixth Ward Alderman Michael Saville said. "And we get to stabilize the neighborhood, so this is a win-win with a very small investment by the city in a worst-case scenario."

With Tuesday's approval, Wiet said he will begin the request for proposal process to find developers for the project.