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The village of Barrington offered three historic homes for sale for $1, including a $10,000 check to the home buyer. There were no takers, so the homes will be up for auction again next month. The catch is that the new homeowners have to pay to relocate the home. A development planner estimates that it would cost tens of thousands of dollars to move even the smallest house. Architectural Review Commission chairman Marty O'Donnell agrees, saying that moving one of the historic houses probably wouldn't be any cheaper than building a new home. However, he says that buyers will acquire a piece of history and receive a home built of high-quality lumber, explaining that lumber isn't made with that level of quality anymore. Although, the historic importance of the homes has been debated.
The village wanted to sell and move the houses to use the land for a new mixed-use development, which would include restaurants and retail, in hopes of revitalizing the downtown area. Originally, village officials threaten to demolish the buildings if no bids came in but historic preservationists raised enough support to keep those plans on hold for now. A member of Architectural Review Commission hopes that if no one is willing to move the houses that people will pressure village officials to back off, claiming that the proposed development by village officials won't look right anyway.
If only there were a company that would cut us a deal to relocate the house, we'd buy one for the new staff office. Better yet, maybe a moving company will offer to relocate a house, free of charge, to a family in need of a home.
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The technology for moving homes has come a long way. The most common way is using computer-synchronized multiple rubber-tired dollies.
They used a dolly system like this to install the elevated El bridge over Wacker Drive at Wells.
Now, if someone with money can just step forward, these houses can be preserved.
Make a documentary of the move and sell it to PBS.This could cover part of the moving expenses.Also the houses could be moved as part of a job training program.