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Old Town-CS040604COPPELL Owner and city want early-20th-century structure sold and renovated Can this old house be saved? By SCOTT STAFFORD StaffWriter Zetma Plumlee still remem- bers when her daddy installed the front ~Sndows in John Kirkland's place back in the 1920sfwhen Coppell '~was just a wide place in the road." The Kirkland house, built sometime from 1903 to 1905, is considered to be the oldest stand- lng structure in Coppell. The 1,000-square-fcot house be- longed to John Kirkland and his wife and is where the), raised four daughters and three sons. Two of his daughters taught school at what is now Pinkerton Elementa- ry, and one of his sons died in World War II, said Mrs. Plumlee. Now Mn Kirkland's family home is the lone survivor of a farming community fl~at has long since passed al~d the only structure on which the city is pinning its heri- tage. The owner of the property, Steve Chadic!~ and the city fa- thers hope the house can be ren~ rated and again become a func- tioning structure in Old Coppell. Bat there 3re no guarantees. "Our city planning depm- ment has asked that ... [buyers] not pursueit if they are not willing to retain the structure,' said Cop- AKIANE KADOCH SW1SA/Staff Photographer Steve Chadick owns the house, and Zelma Plumlee, a resident since 1925, remembers the family that lived there. peIl Mayor Doug Stover.'%Ve can't force that, but we are strongly en- couraging that, and at this point, we don't believe it will ever yield to anyone taking it down." %Ve've had a couple of people, quite frankly, come in here and say they want to dear the property and put in something else," said Gary Sieb, director of planning and community services. "I al- ways try to discourage that, but See CITY Page 30 City, owner want house restored Continued from Page 10 we have no assurance that the structure will be rehabbed.' Mr. Chadick has heard from parties who had a variety of inter- ~ in the property at $0l Bethel Road. WVe've had severai people approach us about purchashug the property, and they weren't interest- ed in the house," he said. "We've even had one or two people inter- ested in purchasing the house, and they weren't interested in the prop- el~.' A couple of prospective buyers have been interested in using the house, but access to the property became an issue, sa/d Mr. Ch'dick. Since then, he added, the city has allowed for a curb cut in the plans tbr the new roadway now under de~ sign. That will help in finding a buyer who is interested in saving the house. ~ pa~'* ~ COPPELL Sandy Lake Ruby ~ Bethel ~ gums "'"" North "Fnr the right person who has that kind of';qsion, one of the pay- oflk is that ynn'd be kimt of a hero with the city, plus thc lhct that you'd get a signature st×)< unlike any oth- cr place in Coppell," he said. Assessed by tile county at $43.000. Mr. Chadick's asking price fi~r the land and building is S152,000. "Some professional, whether it he a ]aw)er, doc<er, engineer or ar- chitect, might find that i~s an office space that he or she would enjoy having," he said. "I think it could be a veL',' interesting pruject for some- one xdio had alittle hit of love for an okler strncture -- nne that's going to he, once mhabhed, the lb<al point vismdly of that neighbor- holld.' The house is about 1,000 square feet and sits on 17,000 square feet of land, a little more than one-third nf an acre. Mr. Chadick said $,50.000 is at the low end of the cost cstinlate to restore the building. } te said that when Bethel Road is rebuilt, it is more likely that the prope% will sell to someone will- ing to ose the Kirkhnd home. According to Mn Sieb, the ci~'s plan for Old Coppdl includes the house as a centerpiece. 'The consultants said that would really be the centerpiece of that whole area," said Mn Sieb. "In fact, the cover for the Old Coppell Master Plan shows a computer im- age looking down Coppell Road dj- redly at that house." Mrs. Plumlee, 88, remembers that when she moved to Coppell in 1925, most of the Kirkland children were gq'o,a.n. "Mn Kirldand worked for the county, and he graded the roads," she said. "Back then, all the roads out here were gravel, and they had a grader and it was pulled by mules. The main thing was to keep the roads leveled sally and Louise were the two Kirkland daughters who were schoolteachers at Pinkerten Ele- mentary. Sally Kirldand, Mrs. Plmnlee said, was her seventh- grade tea<hen The youngest child, ;N0rtlll~tst ~tbrnin~ ;Ycms I:rida), June !, 2004 Page 30 lhe astdng price for the house is $152,OOO. and the owner said $50,000 is at the low end of the estimalc tu l.esh~re it. Carroll, was killed itl World W;u l she recalled. Mrs. PJumlee said that after and Mrs. Kirkland had di~cl, the Lesley family, possihl) m thc .&s the propen5 changed hands during the ensuingvcm s. tile house fid mto disrepair "1 think it should he preserved, n sto~cd, because i l's about the only thiug theft'< h,fl," said Mrs, Plmulee. {Isc that ~;~ t)ld Coppell.'