The old Union Ice & Coal warehouse at 110 W. Vermijo Ave. has been vacant since 1970, and has been ravaged by neglect and fire department training. When Olson Plumbing &� Heating Co. purchased the warehouse six months ago, company owner Mike Trapp intended to tear it down and use the area for outdoor storage. ?The amount of money it would take to try and salvage that would be phenomenal,? Trapp said Wednesday. When he bought it, the ice house and the adjacent boiler building were what Trapp called ?structurally unsound? ? the roof was severely damaged by leaks, and the rafters were rotten. The structure had been contaminated by asbestos, and was unfit for humans. Nonetheless, Trapp, a life-long Colorado Springs resident, said he was willing to give the building a second chance after Colorado Springs City Councilman Tim Leigh approached Trapp earlier this week. Leigh asked him to delay the demolition of the ice house, and Trapp agreed. (On Tuesday, Leigh incorrectly identified the address as 118 W. Vermijo Ave.) ?I think that it?s funny,? Trapp said, reflecting on the situation. ?The whole thing has sat here for 10 years, and no one has given it a thought.? But Leigh and Colorado Springs Independent columnist John Hazlehurst, who first noticed the building?s destruction on Sunday, arrived almost too late. The ice house had been reduced to rubble, leaving the former boiler building standing. On Tuesday, Hazlehurst and Leigh held a press conference at the site, while a truck noisily shifted piles of brick behind them. Neither said they could foresee a future use for the building. Hazlehurst said that extensive and substantial renovations would have to be made in order to save it. Leigh, who has been trying to launch a restoration of the Prospect Lake boathouse, was pessimistic about the outcome for the boiler building. He suspected it would be demolished within four days, if no money is raised to save it. As of Wednesday afternoon, no funds had been offered, he said. The building first appeared on Sanborn fire insurance maps in 1907. The building had two units, one brick structure that housed a plant where ice was manufactured, and the other a stone-rhyolite building that housed boilers. According to Matt Mayberry, director of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, the building was located in the entry corridor to Colorado Springs, when the railroad was the main transportation in the West. Over the years, a wholesale meat firm and two creameries used the building for storage. Union Ice & Coal, later Union Ice & Fuel, used the building until the late 1960s. By 1975, it had been purchased by Rampart Plumbing and Heating Supply, and has been owned by various plumbing firms since. Colorado Springs Architectural Inventory Forms show that the building was denied local landmark status by the city, which means that it could not receive protection by historical ordinances. The inventory disqualifies the building because it was not associated with any significant historical events or persons. Although a renovation of the building might not be the right move, Mayberry said it still has historical significance, and that it is one of few remaining structures from that industrial period. On Wednesday, Leigh had all but given up the cause. He said his request to halt demolition had caught Trapp off guard. ?The only reason he even considered it is because of my personal relationship with him,? Leigh explained. Leigh, like Trapp, marveled that the ice plant had not been given more attention years ago. He still views the building as ?a manifestation of a greater problem,? namely, how to determine the boundaries of historic preservation. Leigh said he is frustrated that in some areas designated for urban renewal, little has happened. ?The fact that we let downtown get blighted like that is a shame,? he said. �... Click here to continue to the story
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43245447
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