Harrington House at Baylor University, which has served over time as home to a university regent, a dining hall for faculty, overnight lodging for a British prime minister and a studio for student artists, will meet its end next month.
Baylor President Linda Livingstone on May 2 announced the decision to demolish the 1894 structure at 1313 S. Eighth St., making room for future development.
The decision was not easy, university spokesperson Lori Fogleman said in a Wednesday email.
“This decision was difficult to make — one the University did not take lightly — as Harrington House has a half century of history on our campus as a faculty dining center, gathering place and most recently for our Department of Art,” Fogleman said. “Even President Livingstone has a special connection to Harrington House.”
But with even a moderate renovation estimated to cost over $4 million, the President’s Council decided the best course of action would be tearing the building down to prepare the land for future development, Baylor officials have said. Members of the Art Department faculty had a gallery and drawing studio there from 2010 until last year, and it has been vacant since then.
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To bring the building up to code would require extensive repairs that address every major building system, including plumbing, heating and air conditioning, electrical, fire protection and more, Fogleman said.
That level of renovation would trigger requirements to bring the facility into compliance with modern Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
“For example, the original building has multiple areas that are not compliant with ADA due to the narrow corridors and doorways associated with residential construction from the late 1800s,” Fogleman said. “The building’s narrow residential stair is out of compliance with both the International Building Code (IBC) and ADA. It also lacks an accessible restroom, ADA-compliant room signage and an elevator to provide access to the second floor.”
The complete set of renovations would exceed the value of the building, university officials have said.
Harrington House was built in 1894 and has a half century of history as a part of the Baylor campus, said Kenneth Hafertepe, a Baylor museum studies professor who has written books detailing the historic homes of Waco.
A historic preservation expert who has served on the Waco Historic Landmark Preservation Commission, Hafertepe said the Harrington House has some historic and architectural value. However, he said he would not argue for spending millions of dollars to preserve the house.
Hafertepe said there are several better examples of Victorian and late Victorian architecture in Waco, and the Harrington House has been modified many times over the years.
Harrington House isn’t the best documented historic home in Waco, Hafertepe said. He is unaware of any historical marker or landmark designation for the building.
“To get on the National Register of Historic Places, it would require architectural significance, or a significant event or a significant person associated with it,” Hafertepe said. “It would have to be evaluated according to how significant Dr. Harrington was in Waco history and how good an example of a Victorian home it is.”
Dr. J.T. Harrington lived at the home for 70 years with his family and served as a regent from 1903 until 1947, according to university publications. After Harrington died, his heirs continued to live there until the late 1960s.
In a recent check of city and county records, Hafertepe uncovered the fact that fire insurance salesman Charles Motz was the first to own the home in 1894.
“The Harrington family didn’t buy it until around 1900,” Hafertepe said by phone Tuesday.
Harrington was well-known in the community, a 2011 Baylor Line Foundation article suggests.
“He was always patching up the neighborhood boys from the repercussions of their rowdy romps,” the article states. The same article notes that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once stayed there.
The university extensively renovated Harrington House three times. In 1974, after the university acquired it from Harrington’s descendants, it was renovated to become a guesthouse and dining hall for the faculty. Then in the mid-1980s it was renovated again to double the dining capacity.
After the faculty center relocated in 2008, Harrington House went through another year’s worth of renovations for the art faculty.
Livingstone’s connection to Harrington House came about while she was a faculty member, Fogleman said. Livingstone’s church gave a baby shower at Harrington House for her and husband before the birth of their daughter Shelby.
The university has not announced a plan for the next building on the site of Harrington House.
“I will be sad to see Harrington House go, but I look forward to a new and exciting future addition to our campus in its place,” Livingstone said in the May 2 announcement.