East Lawrence neighbors are upset that the owner of 1211 R.I. wants to raze the building to make way for something better. To members of the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association, the house is an important historic property that should be maintained.

To members of the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association, the house at 1211 R.I. looks like an 1870s home that needs some work.

To property owner Reed Brinton, it looks like a money pit that needs to be razed to make way for something better.

In City Hall, it looks like a brewing battle that pits property rights versus historic preservation. Thus far, it has all the tension.

“They’re all up in arms because that is what they do,” Brinton, a Johnson County real estate developer, said of East Lawrence residents’ concerns about his proposal to demolish the house. “Have you driven down that part of Rhode Island Street? It looks like a freaking junkyard, and I’ve got neighbors telling me I’m going to harm the neighborhood by building something new there.”

East Lawrence residents are promising to put up a fight to save the house.

“He’s definitely going to have a really tough row to hoe to get this approved,” said Phil Collison, president of the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association.

Collison said the house is important because it is listed as a “contributing structure” in the National Historic District that includes parts of south Rhode Island and New Hampshire streets.

“I think there would be irreparable damage to the city as a whole if it is allowed to be demolished,” Collision said. “This would be a big precedent. It could mean that the national historic designation means nothing at all.”

The home still has several more steps to go through before it can have a date with a wrecking ball, though. The city’s Historic Resources Commission must approve the demolition permit. A date for the commission to hear the request hasn’t yet been set.

Collison said the house is significant, in part, because it was built in 1870 by the Rev. H.B. Belmer, who helped found the English Lutheran Church at 11th and New Hampshire streets, which was the subject of a bitter historic preservation battle in the early 1990s. Plus, Collision said East Lawrence residents have talked to former renters of the home who said it just needs some fixing up.

Brinton, though, said neighbors are ill-informed about the property. He said it has serious structural problems that would cost him more than $100,000 to repair. The property – which he has owned for about 10 years – was rented through July 2006. But after it became vacant, Brinton said, a waterline burst and deposited about 80,000 gallons of water into the home. He said that was the third time the house had had significant water-related issues.

Lynne Braddock Zollner, the city’s historic resources administrator, said she couldn’t comment on the condition of the property because she hadn’t yet been through it. But an analysis of its condition will be part of the process the city uses to determine whether to grant a demolition permit.

Brinton said he would like to build a duplex unit on the property, if city codes will allow it. Because it is in a historic district, it would be required to meet certain design guidelines. Brinton said that wouldn’t be a problem because he has successfully built new homes in historic districts before, pointing to a homes at 734 Ill. and 828 La.