Saving the historic “Richardson-Kennedy House” in Elmira

ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – An eye-catching display of art is highlighting an effort to restore a 19th-century mansion in Elmira. The “Richardson-Kennedy House” is currently owned by the non-profit “ Near Westside Neighborhood Association .”

The Victorian-era property is located on 359 W. Water St. It also became known as the “Ritz Carriage House,” when it housed a beauty school and salon.

“As we started talking about the redevelopment of the property, we were also looking at all the artwork that has been put up in the city through “ Community Arts of Elmira ,” said Executive Director Sue Skidmore. “We entered into an agreement with them where they have an artist who has done these beautiful, lovely, to have people looking out the windows in, oh I don’t know how many years, to bring some life back to this property and to show there is still an interest in it.”

The house gets its name from two of its former owners. Built in 1870, It was first owned by shoemaker Jackson Richardson, president of the J. Richardson Boot and S hoe Company.

The Near Westside Association says “From 1910-1958, the house was owned by Daniel Kennedy, president of the Kennedy Valve Company. In 1958, the house was purchased by Donald Pauldine and converted into a beauty salon and apartments. Note the hitching posts in front of the house.” The house became known as the “Ritz Carriage House.”

Kennedy-Valve , a waterworks manufacturer, still operates in Elmira.

A fire severely damaged the property in 2007. It later went into foreclosure. In 2011, Chemung County sold the house to the Near Westside Neighborhood Association for one dollar.

“We received a grant through New York State, it’s an environmental protection fund,” said Skidmore. “That was $350,000 when we put in $150,000 so that just put a new roof on it. But along with that comes a covenant of what you can do with this property. So, it has to be a mixed-use and it also has to be open to the public on the first floor, because it’s public money the work we have done so far.”

“It’s a huge house, but there’s not a lot of rooms in there,” Skidmore added. “But we can make it to very comfortable good size apartments and then some sort of business on the first floor could also be a doctor’s office, you could have an office on one side and examining rooms on the other.”

“Is there an estimated price tag for full restoration?” I asked.

“Ask me a couple of years ago, I would have said a million to 2 million. It could be pushing it up to 4 or 5 because it needs everything. It’s actually just a shell. The walls are still standing. The doorways are there. But to bring it back we have to put some porches on the exterior. A lot of these windows that you see are not windows, they are doors. So they have to have porches around them. So, it’s going to take a lot of money to bring a historic property back into a historic status,” Skidmore said.

“What is the value, beyond the monetary value, of giving this life new property?”

“You know, historic and Elmira is really local history,” Skidmore said. When we lose our history, we lose kind of ourselves. It’s part of our culture and our heritage. Some properties can be saved some properties can’t and we just have to weigh the benefits of some over others. We are going to do the work ourselves to go forward, whether we do the work or we get the plans and the funding and pass it on to the next owner. But this building is still alive.”

You can watch the full interview with Sue Skidmore below.

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