A proposal to tear down the clock tower and facade of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.’s first plant, in addition to the rest of the building, was delayed Tuesday by the Akron Urban Design and Historic Preservation Commission.
Commissioners said they didn’t have enough information to move forward with a vote. They wanted to tour the building themselves and review reports that stated the 115-year-old building wasn’t salvageable — not just summaries provided by city officials.
“Once it’s gone, there’s no bringing it back,” said Elizabeth Corbin Murphy, a retired restoration architect and a member of the commission. “This building is so important, not just to the life of Akron, but really, to the whole country.”
The building, constructed in 1910, served as both Firestone’s headquarters and the company’s first manufacturing plant. Bob Troyer, a former Firestone chief spokesperson, said it was used by thousands of rubber workers until the 1980s.
The preservation commission agreed last summer to allow the city to demolish the bulk of the property, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, as long as the building’s facade — including its clock tower — remained. This week, though, city planners said it was not feasible to do so and asked to raze the entire building.
Travis Capper, an engineer with the city, told commissioners his team went to great lengths to try to save the front of the building. He said that included looking for a way to keep just the eight-story clock tower, even if the rest of the building’s facade wasn’t salvageable.
It wasn’t structurally possible, he said.
A planning department report said it would cost more than $12 million to keep the front of the building — as opposed to more than $7 million to demolish all of it.
“For $5 million, we just couldn’t do that,” Capper said of the difference in cost.
Commission members questioned why the city did not seek developers for the building in the year since a partial demolition was approved, and why more photos of the property weren’t a part of the presentation. Leianne Heppner, a commission member and the president and CEO of the Summit County Historical Society, said she simply didn’t feel like members had enough information to come to the same conclusion as city employees.
Commissioners will decide later whether to allow demolition
Corbin Murphy, the commissioner, said other buildings in similar shape had been salvaged. And even if the decision is made to demolish Plant 1, she said, it’s important to have a plan to record the building for posterity, through photos and other means.
In a 5-0 vote, with two abstensions, the group decided to take more time before voting on the city’s demolition request.
That was a relief to Dana Noel, the advocacy chair for Progress Through Preservation, who attended the meeting to say he hoped at least the clock tower could be saved. He called it a “terrible shame” that the building might be lost, and asked the city to work to preserve structures like this one so groups like his could mobilize earlier to help save them, if necessary.
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“If there’s an opportunity to do anything, we need time to do it,” Noel said before the vote. “When it’s the 11th hour, it becomes inevitable that it will be torn down.”
Akron planning director: Sometimes it’s necessary to tear down buildings
Noel said he hopes the city gets another opinion on the costs to save the structure.
“You can always tear it down, but why not make an effort to get it back on the tax rolls?” he asked.
Akron’s planning director, Kyle Julien, said he didn’t think it was possible. He said the cost of maintaining the plant has put an enormous strain on the public and he doesn’t believe there’s a scenario in which it can be developed.
The city doesn’t take tearing down historic buildings lightly, Julien said, but sometimes, it’s necessary.
“I think we’ve done our due diligence,” Julien said. “It’s going to be a tremendous burden on the city. I don’t think there’s any question the building needs to come down.”