What to do with the Willows carriage house?

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Posted on Thu, May 8, 2008

What to do with the Willows carriage house?

Suburban and Wayne Times - Wayne,PA*

By Sam Strike

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The sign that hangs outside the front door of the carriage house of

The Willows reads, " Welcome Friends. "

But the sentiment seems hollow, as peeling paint, broken windows and

a collection of mold spores scream " keep out " of the ancillary

structure of the Radnor Township parks system's " jewel. "

Due to what was called " unacceptable conditions " and a perceived

high cost of renovation, the building was up for a demolition vote

in a February meeting of the township's Board of Commissioners.

But the proposed demolition was put on hold, and since then, some

people have been letting their imagination and creative thoughts

flow as to what could be done with the building if it is indeed

preserved.

Ideas include a public/private partnership with a nonprofit, a low-

rent home for Radnor volunteer firefighters and a revenue-producing

bed and breakfast to complement the rental use of the Willows

mansion.

" The township has to be willing to do a little bit of looking, and

tell the story and invite a group to begin to envision what could be

done, " said Garrett Hill resident Sara Pilling, whose maternal

grandfather, Barton Keen, designed the estate buildings at

the turn of the last century. " Why do you tear down a treasure

before you see if you can conserve, restore and reuse it? "

And that's where the township is now — starting a process to

determine if it is able and willing to save the structure it has

seemingly ignored in recent years.

The process actually began last June, when representatives from an

environmental-testing company and an inspection company made a site

visit and submitted their respective reports to the township.

In a long list of building items to be rated, the structure did not

score one " satisfactory. "

According to the report by D-Tech Environmental Testing, what was

found inside the building were various levels of

penicillium/aspergillus spores and Cladosporum and Ulocladium molds.

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According to the report by Best Residential Inspections, mold was

found on foundation walls, floor joists, main beams, subflooring,

interior walls and railings. It was also noted that the basement was

under four inches of water. The structure sits near a creek.

The items marked unsatisfactory included loose and missing siding, a

capped rear drainage pipe, missing window handles, missing keys and

an existence of moisture.

(On the bright side, there is no visible sign of wood-destroying

insects, it was noted.)

In April, a group of six community members and one township employee

made their own site visit to the property.

They noted water damage and suggested solutions to remediate the

problems, including pumping out the water in the basement and

repairing or replacing and operating the sump pumps.

The group, which included preservation- and building-related

experts, filed a report less ominous-sounding about the carriage

house's condition:

" The overall good news is the building appears structurally sound.

The water damage appears to be superficial, and rather simple and

inexpensive to solve. The roof and its supporting structure were

apparently in good condition and there is no evidence of roofing- or

flashing-related water penetration. "

Since the last Board of Commissioners' meeting in April, Radnor

Township public-works director Bill Hagan has pumped the standing

water out of the cottage's basement and has installed two new sump

pumps and a dehumidifier, which will be kept operational during the

workweek, according to township manager Dave Bashore.

Hagan is expected to soon extend the downspouts away from the

cottage to help keep stormwater away from the foundation walls, he

said, as part of some quick-fix solutions.

A discussion on the future of the carriage house is tentatively

scheduled for the Board of Commissioners' May 27 meeting.

When the subject of the Willows carriage house comes up in

conversation, many people bring up a sensitive topic: that the

former Radnor Township manager, family members and dog who lived

there for about a decade all suffered from forms of cancer.

According to testing done by the township, there is no connection

between the carriage house and the cancer-related illnesses and

deaths.

In just over a decade's time, testing has been done on three

separate occasions, according to Bashore. There has not been any

evidence of carcinogenic materials, he said.

" After [the last person moved out of the carriage house] we at least

had no desire to have the cottage used as a residence… despite what

the tests we had done over the last 10-plus years have said, " he

said.

" It's less a liability issue… [and] more a moral decision that we

didn't want to put anyone in a position in harm's way because of

some unknown factors. "

Bashore said that if the township wants to preserve the building and

use it, there should be full disclosure to anyone there of the

history of the outbuilding.

The Willows mansion was originally called Rose Garland when it was

built in 1910.

The Radnor community members who visited the estate's carriage house

in April made sure to express how they felt: that despite being only

an auxiliary structure it is indeed a community asset.

An old gas pump outside of the building " adds greatly to the

historical fabric of the site, and is historically significant in

its own right. "

The group proposed to rehab it in an environmentally friendly way.

It was also put forward that interested people should form a group

to shepherd the process of saving this " important Radnor resource. "

They could be called " The Friends of the Willows Cottage, " it was

suggested.

In that case, the " Welcome Friends " sign should be kept by the

building's front door. One day soon, it may again mean what it says.