FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): The Fort Wayne City Council has denied a man’s request to have his home’s designation as a piece of history revoked.
Richard Herber owns a home on North Washington Road that is the only one in northeast Indiana designed by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He applied to have his property included in a local historic district in 2008, but the Journal Gazette says he’s since tried to get the house removed from that list due to the cost needed to maintain it.
The City Council denied his request Tuesday night by a 6-3 vote, saying he didn’t follow through on claims he’d sell the property, nor did he try hard enough to work with the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, adding that Herber has shown a “lack of decorum” in his dealings with city staff.
A voicemail left by Herber to a real estate attorney asking about possibly buying the property showed he wanted more than $113-million, or “100 million euros,” as he put it, for the house. He’s been trying to have the historic designation removed since 2010, listing disability and cost among reasons he no longer wanted his home listed as such.
Republicans John Crawford, Paul Ensley, and Jason Arp voted in favor of his request.
