NEW ALBANY, Ind. — A brick farmhouse that’s one of the last remaining 19th-century buildings of its kind in a southern Indiana city will be saved from demolition and moved to a new location by a developer.
Under an agreement approved Thursday by the New Albany City Council, the Smith Farmhouse will be donated to Indiana Landmarks, a historic preservation organization, and moved to a nearby location in the Ohio River city.
The agreement between developer Hogan Real Estate and Indiana Landmarks states that the brick farmhouse will be placed on a matching brick foundation, the News and Tribune reported.
The farmhouse dates to the 1830s, when the dwelling’s frame was built by a German immigrant named Martin Smith. His son William is credited with adding a two-story brick section in the 1850s.
“This building is one of the last remaining farmhouses in the area that once was all farmland. It’s a tangible object that allows the story to be told of the Smith family and the story of early agriculture in New Albany,” Floyd County Historian David Barksdale said at Thursday’s council meeting.
A petition was started in August to save the farmhouse, which is not a registered historic property, from demolition as was proposed in the developer’s initial plan.
New Albany’s plan commission gave the developer’s proposal for the property an unfavorable recommendation last month. But the city council approved that development plan Thursday after Hogan Real Estate agreed to move the farmhouse.
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