Forest Lawn Cemetery

[Coyote]

Omaha cemetery plans to demolish historic building, efforts underway to try and save it



Forest Lawn Cemetery has plans to demolish an old but historic building on their property, near the east gate. But for some involved in restoration and history say it's worth saving. "That entrance of the Forest Lawn Cemetery was the original entrance, for so many years," said Tim Reeder, president of Restoration Exchange Omaha. On the cemetery's property is one of many creations by a local, well-known architect. "It's an extremely really beautiful Jacobethan-style building that was designed by John McDonald," said Reeder. 3 weeks ago, Reeder saw the building. "It was really early in the morning and I parked my car and I was looking at this beautiful building that's all boarded up and I thought to myself ‘What is going to happen to this building,’" he said. He called Forest Lawn Cemetery and learned they are planning to tear it down by Memorial Day.

[S.O.Boy]

https://www.google.com/maps/place/41%C2 ... authuser=0


It looks like it would be easy subdivide it out, move a fence.

[Coyote]

Officials at Omaha's Forest Lawn Cemetery say it's too late to save historic building

[Mang]

Back in the day...

[S.O.Boy]

What this house needs is a person with some clout to say to Forest Lawn Cemetery "Wait a second"

[S.O.Boy]

https://www.ketv.com/article/historic-o ... e/43360062#


Omaha nonprofits are asking the Forest Lawn Cemetery for the chance to preserve the historic home that sits on its property.

The cemetery says it's not going to happen.

The McManor, designed by influential architect John McDonald, sits on the edge of the cemetery. McDonald designed many iconic Omaha homes, like the Joslyn Castle.

The president of Restoration Exchange Omaha and Joslyn Castle say a home designed by one of the city's greatest architects deserves to be saved.

"And this one is just sitting there begging to be restored, it's just too beautiful. The home has got so much character, so much style," President Tim Reeder said.

Reeder and Joslyn Castle are asking the cemetery for the opportunity to preserve the home, presenting their case to the community on Sunday.

"They gave us about a week to put a proposal together, which we did, and then they immediately said we're not interested. But they still have not allowed us to meet face to face," Reeder said.

Reeder understands that the cemetery is likely going to demolish the home but he's begging to at least be allowed to photograph and document its historic nature.

"We just need them to give us the opportunity to step inside, take a look at it, more than other news outlets cause that's all we've seen," he said.

Reeder says the cemetery hopes to have it torn down by Memorial Day, but he hopes to make one final in-person plea.

"We believe that the time frame to just tear it down now is unnecessarily rushed. I know that they've been dealing with it for many, many years but we still at least just want to have a conversation," he said.

The Director of the cemetery told KETV he's not going to allow anyone else to take pictures of the inside of the home, despite those pleas.

[almighty_tuna]

Geez, Forest Lawn sure seems to have a stick up their |expletive| about this house. Though, if the house is as dilapidated as implied, it should come as no surprise that after neglecting it for decades Forest Lawn isn't keen on reversing course and preserving it.

[realestate_zach]

The unfortunate part of this story is that preservation only gets attention when an owner proposes demolishing a structure. These properties are left to deteriorate over time, and there is no visible effort from preservation groups to encourage the maintenance and upkeep of these historic structures. In my experience, it doesn't appear that folks care about a historic structure until someone talks about tearing it down, no matter how bad the condition of the structure is in the years leading up to the demolition. I believe historic structures should be saved whenever possible, I'm working on a project that does just that, but they aren't always salvageable, and it often comes down to the cost of rehabilitation. If we want to see historic properties preserved, we need to focus as much on maintaining existing properties as "saving" properties slated for demolition.