Price house, companion for sale as fixer-uppers

The East Aurora house where Irving Price lived when he co-founded the Fisher-Price toy company during the Depression is for sale for $250,000.

After a summer of frustration when he was told that he could not tear down the gutted Victorian house for a parking lot, the owner put the house and its Main Street neighbor (for $200,000) on the market.

Gene Wachala was stymied by East Auroras decision in June to designate the old houses as historic landmarks, which meant he wasnt allowed to tear them down as he had hoped.

Instead, a new owner will have to rehab the empty houses, at 259 and 253 Main, which dont even have kitchens.

Its virtually building a new house inside that outer skin, said Wachala, owner of Pasquales restaurant across the street. Whoever does it, I think, is going to be in the business of remodeling because theyre going to eat a lot of the costs themselves, I would think. Hopefully, someone will come along.

Wachala bought the houses at auction last year, intending to replace them with a parking lot for his restaurant as well as a new building that would have combined commercial storefronts at street level with upstairs apartments.

But at a meeting earlier this year, the century-old houses drew a small crowd of advocates who spoke passionately to the Village Board about preserving Main Streets old-fashioned character.

Local landmark status, which the houses now have, prevents their demolition without village approval.

The people of East Aurora at the public hearing spoke loud and clear about their views, said Mark W. Warren, chairman of the Historic Preservation Commission. It was overwhelming.

It is common for old buildings to deteriorate and need lots of work, he said. His examples of once-forlorn historic properties revamped into something newly appreciated include the Darwin Martin House, Graycliff, the Erie Canal Commercial Slip, the Hotel @ The Lafayette, the grain elevators and the Roycroft Campus.

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Price house, companion for sale as fixer-uppers