Fort Lauderdale approves demolition of historic building

FORT LAUDERDALE

A cut-in-half, falling-apart Sailboat Bend historic home has avoided the wrecking ball for almost five years despite being labeled an unsafe structure.

Commissioners cleared the way for its demolition this week, saying sometimes history is too far gone to be saved.

The Weidling House, a 1939 art moderne concrete structure at 716 SW Fourth Place along the New River, has been up on blocks since 2005. A failed restoration project has left it an historic eyesore for neighbors.

The city's Unsafe Structures Board issued a demolition order for the building in 2008, but the city's Historic Preservation Board that year refused to give its required permission for the destruction.

Since then, the building has sat in limbo as the property was part of bankruptcy proceedings. The property's new owner, Edward Strobel, told commissioners it would be cost-prohibitive to restore the building.

The commission agreed and overturned the preservation board's previous decision.

"The house is falling apart. There's no one there to save it," Commissioner Dean Trantalis said. "Circumstances have kind of moved our hand here."

The home originally was owned by C.P. Weidling, co-founder of the city's first law firm and publisher of the Fort Lauderdale Herald, a predecessor of the Sun Sentinel. Its style is also known as Art Deco. Its curved lines are in a nautical style, which historians said was meant to suggest a ship or ocean liner.

Neighbors say the building has been crumbling before their eyes.

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Fort Lauderdale approves demolition of historic building