Butler's old and historic homes could be protected

By Steve Ferris Eagle Staff Writer

February 16, 2018 Last Updated: February 28, 2018 06:01 PM Business

Kevin Caparosa (left) and Chuck Davey talk outside Caparosa's house on McKean Street. They are part of a group trying to create a district to preserve historical homes in Butler.

Kevin Caparosa appreciates old houses in Butler.

He has devoted a lot of the 27 years he and his family have lived in their home on North McKean Street restoring it to resemble the way it might have looked when the original owner, local banker John V. Ritts, had it built in 1895.

The house had a pretty hard life between the time Ritts owned it and when Caparosa bought it.

Some doors were nailed shut and others were painted shut to cram eight apartments into the house. The original white oak woodwork in the vestibule was painted gray.

“Everything in here was gray. The walls, the ceiling, the floor,” Caparosa said. “We've done extensive work. It's taken us 27 years to get here.”

Some exterior work remains to be finished.

It is the exteriors of the Victorian and colonial revival homes in a 12-block area in the northeast corner of the city that a group of neighbors are interested in preserving. The area could become an architectural conservation overlay district.

The designation wouldn't affect zoning, but it would create a review board that would have to approve any exterior renovations contemplated by owners of homes in the district, to preserve their architectural features.

Caparosa and neighbor Chuck Davey, a retired attorney, met with about 30 other neighbors last summer and they supported the idea.

“Most of them have renovated their homes,” Davey said.

“A coalition of the willing,” is how Caparosa described the grass roots effort.He said more neighborhood meetings will be held this summer to gather ideas on the types of renovations residents consider appropriate before a formal proposal is presented to Butler City Council.The proposal is in its early stages.Davey said there are two district boundaries under consideration.The smaller tract has 119 lots and owners occupy more than 72 percent of the houses.The larger has 143 lots and is more than 66 percent owner occupied.Both tracts are between North Cedar Street and North Elm Street.Councilman Jeff Smith, who lives in the neighborhood, presented the idea to council in January. No action was taken, but council members expressed a willingness to hear what the group proposes.Davey said he's glad that council is willing to listen.“This can stabilize the neighborhood, increase property values and make this a desirable place to live,” he said.Making the district a desirable neighborhood would benefit downtown business and lead to landlords asking for higher rent, Caparosa said.“We believe in the long run there will be value added. People will want to live in that landscape. A strong neighborhood will support downtown. They go hand in hand,” he said.Many other residents in the neighborhood have done work to preserve the originality of their homes, Caparosa said. Most of the houses there were built between 1890 and 1920, he said.Caparosa said he added the third floor and a tower to his home, which has two apartments on the third floor and two in the carriage house.“Butler has a lot that it doesn't give itself credit for. The biggest thing is to change the way people think. My view is that I'm a caretaker. Someone else will live here eventually,” he said.