A major property owner in the Village of East Davenport and members of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission are butting heads again over potential changes in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.

John Wisor, owner of 11th Street Precinct and rental houses along 12th Street and Jersey Ridge Road, is asking the City Council to let him demolish a 110-year-old home at 1125 Jersey Ridge. Wisor said he plans to build a single-family home for himself for close to a half-million dollars.

The Historic Preservation Commission is recommending denial of the demolition request. Instead, it has nominated the structure, known as the Peter C. Bruchmann House, for placement on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties, as the city’s ordinance requires when it issues a denial.

Wisor and the commission previously tangled over the future of Lindsay Park. Wisor suggested building a parking lot where the basketball courts along 11th Street are situated, while commissioners vowed to block any new parking areas.

Wisor accused the commission of serving as “roadblocks” to progress and hampering job creation and economic development. Commission chairman John Frueh warned in an e-mail to Village of East Davenport activist Karen Anderson that the demolition “will be the beginning of the end of the business district in the Village of East Davenport.”

Anderson claims Wisor told her he plans to demolish numerous houses and businesses along 12th Street and build condominiums.

“He has no appreciation for historic buildings, whatsoever,” she said. “Why would you go into a historic district and pay top dollar for buildings and tear them down or destroy them? There’s a big difference between infill development and bulldozing down a historic district.”

Destroying the commercial businesses in the Village would be financial suicide for his bar and restaurant business, Wisor said. 

“I want to employ people and apply economic stimulus to the area,” he said. “I put my money where my mouth is. I’ve renovated an old bar that is now popular. I employ 35 people. You know why the Herb Cellar is there? Because I rehabbed that building. How many jobs did the Historic Preservation Commission create last year?”

Commissioner Fritz Miller said the group has approved previous plans Wisor brought forward, including renovation of the 11th Street Precinct. However, the house he wants to demolish is historically relevant, architecturally unique and the plans Wisor has presented for its replacement are not historically sympathetic, he said.

“The drawing we saw had absolutely no bearing whatsoever with anything in the historic district,” he said. “It was a completely modern house that would not fit in with the historical nature.”

Wisor said if the demolition of the rental property is denied, the house — which has a sagging porch and serious insulation problems — will continue to fall into disrepair.

“The building is too far gone,” he said. “Ask them which one of them on the board will pony up the money to rebuild that house. I will sell it to anyone on that board willing to put their own money in it.

“The City Council has the final say, and if they believe that saving a house I will never repair because it’s not worth a dime is worth more than allowing me to tear it down, build a brand new house and increasing the tax base will go from $100,000 to $500,000, so be it.”

A couple of nearby business owners said they are ambivalent about the future of the home at 1125 Jersey Ridge.

Jean Beaver, who has owned the Leftovers used furniture and collectibles store next to 1125 Jersey Ridge for two years, said since the rental property is not being used as a business or single-family home, she wouldn’t mind seeing it demolished.

“It’s not being put to use as a historic building now, so what’s the difference?” she said. “Probably, a single-family home would be kept up better.”

Across the street, Kate Goodworth, owner of Betty’s Wigs, said she’d like to see the future plans for the lot if the building is torn down. There is room for new construction in the Village, as long as it’s “historically sympathetic,” she said.

“I hope everyone’s goal is to put different businesses in to attempt and bring more people down here,” she said.

Miller said he respects the fact Wisor puts “his heart and soul” into his businesses. However, he said, Wisor sometimes fails to understand that doing business in a historic district requires sensitivity and additional rules.

Wisor said he’s frustrated by what he feels are unnecessary impediments to bringing more prosperity to the Village.

“Do they want people to come to this city and do things?” he said. “That’s what gets areas to take off. Not every building is worth saving, and I know that because there are several here I have saved.”