ST. LOUIS — The days seem to be numbered for Mullanphy Emigrant Home, the 1867 structure north of downtown originally built as a haven for Irish and other immigrants heading west.
“I feel I am stuck,†said Wahied Gendi, a local doctor who purchased the structure at 1609 North 14th Street three years ago and announced plans to save it. “The last thing I want is for this building to collapse in front of my eyes.â€
But that is what’s happening. A western wall and part of the roof are down, giving the elements another pass at a structure that was barely saved 15 years ago, when nonprofits and preservationists scrambled to secure other crumbling walls.
The slow death of the Mullanphy House is a disappointment to Andrew Weil, president of the Landmarks Association of ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
“We had very high hopes, as I think everyone did, when Dr. Gendi bought the property,†Weil said. “Since then, as far as I can tell, absolutely nothing’s happened.â€
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Gendi, though, estimates he’s spent $100,000 on the building beyond the $130,000 he paid to acquire it from an affiliate of the Old North ºüÀêÊÓƵ Restoration Group, which had cared for the property and saved it from demolition in 2006.
But his contractors had tools and equipment stolen. And banks wouldn’t give him a loan on the property that, when he bought it, he estimated needed $4 million in repairs.
Then, this summer, the western wall and part of the roof collapsed after strong storms blew through the area, Gendi said. His estimate for the emergency repairs is $2.5 million.
The city’s Cultural Resources Office denied a demolition permit he applied for this summer. Gendi said he only applied for the permit to stave off city building inspectors levying fines for the building’s condition and had no intention to demolish it. He did not appeal the city staff’s decision to the Preservation Board.
He said he’s willing to donate the property to the city or a nonprofit with the means to stabilize it, but “nobody wants to do anything.â€
“I talked with two banks,†Gendi said. “Nobody’s willing to put any money there is the problem. Now it’s beyond — I don’t have $2.5 million cash to put into the building.â€
At one time, the estate that funded the building’s construction might have been a help. Bryan Mullanphy, elected mayor of ºüÀêÊÓƵ in 1847, was the son of John Mullanphy, the city’s first Irish millionaire and one of its most successful businessmen. When Bryan Mullanphy died in 1851, he left a chunk of his estate to the city to “furnish relief to all poor emigrants and travelers coming to ºüÀêÊÓƵ.â€
Lawsuits by his heirs challenging the city’s competency to administer the trust tied up the funds for years, but the Emigrant Home, providing short-term shelter for new Americans, was finally built in 1867.
Mullanphy’s will was progressive for its time — decreeing his money be used to help all nationalities and faiths — and it helped give ºüÀêÊÓƵ a reputation as an immigrant-friendly city in the ports of entry on the East Coast. The nonprofit Travelers Aid International, which offers help in some of the country’s busiest airports, .
From the beginning, though, concerns about upkeep dogged the building and others constructed by the Mullanphy estate. The Mullanphy House ceased being used for immigrant housing after just 10 years, with the board of the Mullanphy fund opting to pay for food and lodging elsewhere and leasing the building to the school district from 1879 to 1899. The Post-Dispatch criticized the fund in the late 19th century for not providing enough relief to immigrants, and, to avoid maintenance costs, the city tried to pass bills selling off all Mullanphy real estate.
Ultimately, the estate did become a fund, which by the late 1970s was used to operate a Travelers Aid Office in a Greyhound Bus depot on North Broadway.
The original Mullanphy House itself, meanwhile, was a factory for much of the 20th century, most notably for the Absorene Manufacturing Co., which still makes cleaning sponges in a nearby building on Cass Avenue.
It’s unclear if the historic building can survive another near collapse. The Old North group rallied to save it 15 years ago after two other walls collapsed. Irish community groups donated money. Bands played benefit concerts. Construction companies donated time to rebuild the south wall.
There’s been no such rally this time. Gendi is an active investor in real estate, buying many smaller properties in the downtown area, particularly condominiums in loft buildings. But he said the project exceeds his financial capability, and his other properties are already mortgaged and couldn’t be used as collateral for this project. The structure is too far gone to even qualify for historic tax credits at this point, he said.
Weil, at the Landmarks Association, disputes that the structure could no longer qualify for historic tax credits. He concedes it’s a difficult property in a difficult neighborhood, but said that Gendi should have done his due diligence.
“This is a person that intentionally with full knowledge purchased a city landmark and a National Register property,†Weil said. “There is a certain responsibility.â€