By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Jonathan Blackmer, a son of Salisbury’s most famous acting couple, wants to demolish his family’s historic home on South Fulton Street.
A resident of Alexandria, Va., Blackmer has filed an application with the Historic Preservation Commission seeking to demolish and remove the house at 112 S. Fulton St. The commission will meet at 5:15 p.m. Thursday to consider the request.
Noted stage and screen actor Sidney Blackmer, a Salisbury native, and his actress wife, Suzanne, bought the house in 1933 and raised their two sons here. The Blackmer couple are buried in Chestnut Hill Cemetery.
Sidney Blackmer died in 1974; his wife, in 2004.
A fire seriously damaged much of the home Dec. 1, 1984, and the house’s condition in the quarter century since then has been a periodic topic of community concern and debate. At one point, in 1989, the Historic Preservation Commission issued a certificate of appropriateness for the house’s demolition but imposed a 180-day delay.
Efforts to rebuild the house faltered, leading to a lengthy public hearing April 3, 1990, in which speakers argued both for demolition and the house’s preservation.
Salisbury City Council ended up voting unanimously to rescind the demolition order ó the HPC’s and council’s last official action connected to the house.
Original portions of the house date back to 1821, when it was built as the Salisbury Academy for girls. The Hall House on South Jackson Street was built about the same time as an academy for boys.
Some changes were made to the home in 1889 and the early 20th century. It’s a two-story frame house with an attic. After the fire, its portico was removed because of damage to the porch roof and deterioration of the wood sills supporting the columns.
The house is considered a “contributing” structure within the National Register of Historic Places district approved in 1975. It also is part of the locally designated West Square Historic District, which is why the demolition request comes before the Historic Preservation Commission.
Jonathan Blackmer submitted his application for demolition of the house in July, but he asked that the commission delay taking up his request until October, when he would be available to attend.
Under its guidelines, the commission can delay a demolition within a locally designated historic district for up to 365 days from the date of approval of a certificate of appropriateness. Blackmer has applied for the certificate, which is what the commission will take up Thursday.
The guidelines’ provision for a delay is intended to allow sufficient time to exhaust all possibilities of saving a building.
During a delay, the guidelines say, the commission “should actively seek to negotiate with the owner or other interested parties to find a means of preserving the building or site.”
“The commission should also make it widely known that a significant building is threatened with demolition and that alternatives are sought,” the Residential Design Guidelines say.
Progress was made in the spring of 1985 to abate some of the house’s more serious minimum housing code and nuisance violations. The Historic Preservation Commission then approved a $12,400 stabilization project in August 1985 by Historic Salisbury Foundation.
In April 1988, neighbors brought concerns about the condition of the property to the city, leading to the issuance of an ordinance to demolish if a building permit had not been secured within 90 days for repairs.
The 90-day period expired, but the City Council deferred acting on a demolition for a few more weeks at the owner’s request. The big public hearing came as progress on rebuilding the house was minimal at best.
Several times, Historic Salisbury Foundation has offered to buy the property ó first from Suzanne Blackmer, who insisted for many years that she wanted to turn the house into a museum for her late husband.
In 2000, the foundation also offered to pay Jonathan Blackmer $85,000 for the property. By then, Suzanne Blackmer had deeded the property to him. Jonathan Blackmer declined the offer.
Suzanne Blackmer was living alone in the house at the time of the fire. She didn’t realize that her insurance had lapsed and didn’t have money for the repairs the house needed. She eventually retreated to her New York apartment and lived there until her death.
Sidney Blackmer’s acting career spanned decades, from “The Perils of Pauline” to “Rosemary’s Baby.” Suzanne Blackmer’s career included frequent appearances in Three Stooges movies.