Sioux Falls Board To Decide Fate Of Cathedral Historic District Home

Sioux Falls, SD

A Sioux Falls board will decide the future of a house in the Cathedral Historic District.  A developer wants to tear it down for new housing, but neighbors are saying not so fast. For more than 125 years, a house has called the lot on 435 N. Spring Avenue home. 

"This is a piece of history," Leah Pidde with the Cathedral Historic District Neighborhood Watch and Planning Committee said. 

The effort to demolish the light-blue, two-story has some people in the historic Cathedral neighborhood seeing red. 

"Once this home is gone, it's gone forever," Pidde said. 

The Cathedral Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places. This house is a contributing structure, which essentially means it helped establish the neighborhood and its status on that list. That's why the Board of Historic Preservation needs to approve anything that can happen to it. 

"To bring it back would not be cost effective," David Shelton with Advantage Investments said. 

Shelton with Advantage Investments -- the company that owns it -- says an inspection shows it could be unsafe because of problems with the wood siding and its foundation, which sits on a downward slope.

"Over the years the hydraulic pressure has had its way with that house," Shelton said. 

The concern goes beyond this particular house's property line. Neighbors fear tearing this house down makes it open season for other houses in the area.

"Even though it's historical and protected, then they just start tearing them all down," Pidde said. 

Pidde doesn't believe it's beyond repair, and says its list of issues is common for any older structure in a historic district. 

"I knew what I was getting into and the neighbors who live around here know what they're getting into when they buy it," Pidde said. 

Shelton says any plan to build a new house, or houses, would fit the character of the neighborhood.

"I'm with them. I'm 100-percent with them. We want to keep our historic districts and structures that are meaningful throughout this town," Shelton said.

Ultimately, the Board of Historic Preservation will decide this historic home's future. That meeting is at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Sioux Falls City Hall. 




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