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Cresson men may save historic cottage from wrecking ballBY KATHY MELLOTTKMELLOTTdTRIBDEM.COMCRESSON - Just call it the house that won’t come down.With the Braemar-Jones cottage due to face a wrecking ball in the next few weeks, a Cresson man and his family haverstepped forward to purchase the 14-room Victorian structure from the Cresson Area Historical Association.Andv Dziabo and his father, *Mike Dziabo, who is a civil engineer and businessman, are in talks with the association.The Dziabos laid out their plans Thursday night for the Cresson Township supervisors, who had ordered that the dilapidated cottage be demolished.While skeptical at first, local officials appeared to embrace the idea by the end of the meeting.We want to put a roof on it and paint it,” Andy Dziabo said.“Once its an enclosed shell, well go inside and start working.“The attraction to me was the character and look of the house,” Andv Dziabo said.Mike Dziabo said they were aware of the battle over demolishing the cottage but believed the issue was tied up in tin*not really begin to take form until as late as Sunday, he said. The Dziabos have experiencein salvaging antique homes. The Dziabo home on Cottage Street, a block away from Braemar-rJones, is considered a showpiece of the Victorian Era.If the historicalassociation has aminvolvement inthis, I would htopposed to it.GARY BRADLEY, TOWNSHIP SUPERVISORThe Braemar-Jones cottage was built in 1889 as a summer home. The owner was long thought to be Pittsburgh steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, but the cottage more likely belonged to another steel magnate, Benjamin Jones.The structure has been a pointof controversy for the township supervisors for years. Purchased from private ownership by the historical group in 1990, the cottage was allowed to tall into serious disrepair, prompting neighThe supervisors were successful in getting court approval to have the cottage deemed in violation of the township’s nuisance ordinance. That kicked off a vears-long court battle.A change in the historical association’s leadership brought an invigorated push to save the dilapidated structure, but funding remained elusive.The association’s lengthy legal maneuvering has left some tow nship officials leary of members’ future involvement with the structure.“If the historical association has any involvement in this, I would be opposed to it,” Supervisor Garv Bradley said.Supervisor Scott Decoskey, the board chairman, agreed.We’ve heard a lot of plans. I need to see a plan, 1 need to seemonev.” Decoskev said. We’ve*/ %/been going through this for years, and i’m not willing to go back to square one.”Decoskev told Andv Dziabo that he would be pleased if the Braemar-Jones property’ could resemble the Dziabos’ restored Victorian down the street.The Dziabos indicated they would be in touch with town-
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Johnstown Tribune Democrat
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, US
Sat, Nov 13, 2010
Page 3
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Altoona A.
PA, USA 24 Apr 2019
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