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Old photo of the Moratz house at 103 W. Wood Street in Bloomington. |
Moratz house survives in restoration projects
The historic home pictured above was designed by Paul O. Moratz. The Richardsonian Chateauesque structure was built in 1892 on the northeast corner of Center and Wood streets. It was designed for John W. Van Schoick, a brickmaker and affiliated with Rankin Brick Co., where his brother William M Van Schoick was vice president. Wm. M. Van Schoick lived in another Moritz designed home at 302 West Wood. Both homes were made of brick, most likely from the Rankin brickyard and built by William Van Schoick’s building firm.
The Van Schoick family continued to live in the house until the 1974. D. Dan Griffith lived in the house from 1975-77. In 1978, Jeffrey and Elizabeth Rich purchased the house and lived there until 1986. William F. Klingman owned the house until it was sold to Amoco in 1991. In 1990, Amoco Oil Company proposed a gas station and convenience store for the area occupied by a former Houk gas station and the 103 West Wood historic house by Paul O. Moratz, Architect.
This issue created considerable opposition from the neighborhood and many historical preservationists. In June of 1990 the Bloomington Planning Commission passed on the recommendation that the property be rezoned from residential to commercial classification. Several proposals for moving the house were made after the proposed rezoning, costing upward of $200,000. Due to the high costs of moving and moving utility lines the proposals were not viable.
On May 28, 1991 the City Council rezoned half of the block bounded by Elm, Center, Main and Wood streets for the Amoco development by a vote of six to one. Controversy continued until an agreement was announced by Amoco on Sept. 27, 1991, with preservationist Tom Del Forge to save significant portions of the Victorian structure by dismantling and storing the tower top and other pieces.
Those pieces were proposed to be incorporated into a house to be built by Tom Del Forge either in the Franklin Park area or along East Jefferson. The pieces were removed by city crews to a city storage facility. Amoco donated $12,000 to defray dismantling costs of dismantling significant portions of the house for preservation. Much of the wood trim, flooring and external stone have been incorporated into a variety of local restoration projects.
Bill LaBounty