Developer to rescue historic Belleville mansion from the wrecking ball

A local developer has signed up for the monumental task of renovating a derelict 1884 mansion that the city of Belleville bought at a tax auction two years ago and planned to demolish.

The City Council voted 13-0 on Tuesday night to approve a development agreement with Karl Gilpin, who has renovated several historic buildings with his brother, Victor Gilpin. Their company is Tygracon Properties.

Under the agreement, Karl Gilpin will buy the two-story brick home with an attic apartment at 107 E. D St. for $1 and spend at least $330,000 on renovations, including $250,000 of his own money and $80,000 in tax-increment-financing funds from the city as part of its Infill Redevelopment Program.

“It’s a no-brainer for the city, honestly,” Karl Gilpin said, joking that his wife, Magdalena Gilpin, forced him to take on the project because she loves the home so much.

“If we rehab this thing, it’s back on the tax rolls for 30 years at least, and that’s if somebody bought it and did nothing with it and the roof collapsed. It will probably be on the tax rolls for 100 years plus.”

Officials calculated that the renovation would save the city $50,000 in demolition costs and $7,500 for mowing a vacant lot over five years and yield $25,000 more in tax revenue for a total windfall of $82,500.

The agreement requires the city to remove scrub trees and grind existing stumps on the property, install a new sidewalk and provide a 50% rebate on taxes resulting from the property’s increased value for five years.

The agreement requires Gilpin to follow the exterior-preservation rules of Hexenbuckel Historic District and complete the renovation or make substantial progress in two years. He told officials it could take three.

“It’s such a massive project,” he said.

Before Tuesday night’s vote, Andy Gaa, chairman of Belleville Historic Preservation Commission, wrote a letter to aldermen, stating that the commission supported the agreement as a way to avoid creating yet another vacant lot in a historic Belleville neighborhood.

Built for German immigrants

The Italianate-style mansion with a widow’s walk and iron cresting was built for German immigrant Amson Baer and his wife, Sadie Baer. He co-owned Baer Brothers horse- and mule-trading business, according to Bob Brunkow, historian for Belleville Historical Society.

Several families occupied the home over 140 years. That included James and Phyllis Young, who completed a major renovation in the 1970s.

Their daughters, now Mary Lee Poole and Christina Keck, played among three marble fireplaces, a grand staircase, 12-foot-high ceilings, giant windows, pocket doors, stained glass, transoms, massive woodwork and marquet flooring made of chestnut, oak and mahogany.

“That widow’s walk was the best place to be during a snowstorm,” Poole reminisced in 2022. “You could look out over the whole city, and it was quiet and covered in snow. It was just magical.”

The last owners abandoned the home in the middle of a renovation and forfeited ownership for back taxes.

By 2022, the wraparound porch was hidden behind overgrown trees and bushes. Paint peeled from window frames with broken panes. Weeds grew in gutters. Insulation hung from ceilings.

The city bought the home from St. Clair County for $795 and slated it for demolition. Officials felt it was unsafe and beyond repair due to damage caused by water coming through a large hole in the roof, according to Scott Tyler, director of health, housing and building.

“We’re having an asbestos study done on the home and getting utilities shut off,” he said at the time. “There’s been homeless or squatters living there for quite a while. The place is just filled with trash.”

Removed from demolition list

The city’s plan changed after the BND published a story about the mansion. Officials took it off the demolition list and posted a request for proposals.

Tyler hosted an open house, and several developers showed up to poke around, but none submitted a proposal. Officials posted a second proposal request, and eventually Gilpin warmed up to the idea.

“I’m thrilled,” Tyler said. “It’s a neat old house. But it’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of funds to fix it.”

Gilpin, 49, is a retired U.S. Army intelligence officer. He and his brother converted the old Schaufler’s Pharmacy building on East Main Street into lofts and renovated apartments on North 96th Street and Walnut Street and a duplex on East D Street in Belleville.

Karl and Magdalena Gilpin also turned a historic home on Washington Street into Grafted Wine Bar & Lounge.

Karl Gilpin said he will need to “modernize” the kitchen of the home at 107 E. D St. and remove a dilapidated addition in back, but he plans to preserve as many original features as possible.

“We’re definitely not going to gut it,” he said. “That’s part of the reason it’s going to take so long and cost so much.”

Gilpin said he and his wife have talked about living in the home, but they can’t predict what will happen in two or three years with the real-estate market or their personal situation. The development agreement mandates that it remain a single-family residence for 10 years.

Poole said she’s relieved to hear that someone plans to return her beloved childhood home to its former glory and that she won’t have to watch a wrecking ball turn it into rubble.

“There’s too much cool stuff in there for it to be torn down,” she said.

This story was originally published February 21, 2024 at 8:55 AM.

Teri Maddox

Belleville News-Democrat

618-239-2473

A reporter for 40 years, Teri Maddox joined the Belleville News-Democrat in 1990. She also teaches journalism at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park. She holds degrees from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and University of Wisconsin-Madison.