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Preservation group reports potential offer to save Judge Ferry House in St. Charles; council extends demolition decision 60 days
Summary
A public commenter from Watts Preservation Partners updated the commission on an ongoing preservation effort in St. Charles: an offer on the Judge Ferry House is under consideration and the city council temporarily tabled a demolition vote while parties pursue a solution that could include added parking to mitigate the church’s concerns.
During public comment at the May 20 meeting, a representative of Watts Preservation Partners updated the Geneva Historic Preservation Commission on the Judge Ferry House in neighboring St. Charles and reported promising progress toward saving the 1844 house.
The commenter (identified in the record as representing Watts Preservation Partners) said the owner at the time, a church adjacent to the property, had been denied demolition twice but that a new offer to purchase the house had been made and that the church was considering the offer. He said the city agreed to study options to replace some parking lost if the house is preserved: the city would consider constructing additional parking spaces on Third Avenue to help address the church’s parking concerns.
Because the parties requested time to negotiate, the commenter said the St. Charles council extended or tabled the demolition decision for 60 days to allow a potential sale and adaptive reuse to be finalized. The preservation representative described the development as a likely path to rehabilitation, with the city providing limited public parking support and a private buyer committing to rehabilitate the house for adaptive reuse.
The commission received the update as public comment; no formal Geneva action was taken. The commenter recommended other preservation groups and local governments studying similar cases use the situation as an example of negotiation and community engagement in preservation outcomes.
