Provo House demolition project intended to highlight Wickliffe Cemetery
Oct. 24—As a result of the Provo House remaining underutilized for many years, as well as costing Wickliffe taxpayers thousands to yearly upkeep, it is now scheduled for demolition, city officials say.
The structure has served numerous purposes including as a hotel and, for over 60 years, as the home of the Provo family. However, after many additions were put onto the home, located at 28855 Euclid Ave., the building itself lost its historical value, said Ward 2 Councilman Randy Gerhardstein.
"We lost interest as far as businesses going in there and things like that, and structurally, it's getting unsafe," he said. "The foundation was crumbling, there's structural issues with the building — it needed a roof and a whole bunch of work, so that led to our decision to tear it down."
Asbestos embedded where the original windows of the home were is currently being removed. Once that is done, the demolition will start, said city Service Director Ron Strauser. He predicts demolition will start this week.
"The environmental board had students from Cleveland State University come out and do an engineering project," Gerhardstein said. "To give us an idea, students made a rendering of what they thought for a park-like setting if the Provo House came down.
"The service director and I are going to take part of their idea," he added. "We're going to make it look nice, but we're looking for something the service department can take care of without adding more burden to the department."
Gerhardstein, Strauser and the city engineer had some preliminary discussions on what the property will look like next year. Future plans of the park-like area are intended to present exposure of the historic Wickliffe Cemetery, located directly behind the home.
"Many residents don't know we have a cemetery," said Mayor Joe Sakacs. "It's historical. The founders of Wickliffe, Civil War, World War I and Spanish-American War (soldiers) are there. The aesthetics are changing on the avenue. That's a big part of it, too. We get a lot of, 'Euclid Avenue's tired looking.' This is going to add to the aesthetics."
Much of Euclid Avenue is private property the city can't control, but this is something they can, Sakacs said.
Gerhardstein hopes to see the project completed by Memorial Day.
"These projects we've done — because we have a group of people all working in the same direction for the same causes — go smoother," he said. "We're all eager to see it come down. It's a burden by the time you maintenance it and pay the utilities. Our big push is to make Euclid Avenue look better. This will help."
Upon completion, Gerhardstein hopes more residents become aware of the cemetery and know that it's still functioning.
"It's still a working cemetery where we have room to add columbariums for residents once we get the proper signage and people actually know it's there," he said. "We're hoping some of the longtime residents will take advantage of that.
"It's a beautiful cemetery," he added. "The Service Department takes great care of it and I think a lot of people in Wickliffe have never taken 10 minutes to drive down there, walk it and see the history of the names there."
