The city of Hercules wanted to preserve one of their historic homes. So they cut it half and put it on the market for a dollar.
It’s a long story.
Dubbed the “Queen Anne House,” the old home sat for years behind the Powder Works Clubhouse, a men’s club for factory workers dating to 1901.
Darrell Tucker, president of the Hercules Historical Society, tells Curbed SF even he’s not quite sure precisely how old the Queen Anne is, although it was probably built within a few years of the clubhouse one way or the other.
Back in 2009, the city bought it for the bargain price of one dollar. They had plans to landscape the area, and since nobody wanted to demolish the historic home, it was decided to fix it up and transport it to a nearby park.
That’s about as far as the plan got, though, since the renovation will cost decidedly more than a dollar. In the seven years since, Hercules has never managed to get a budget together for the project.
With nothing else to do with it, the city now plans to just give it away to anyone who promises to do the preservation themselves.
(Realtor and the East Bay Times both report that Hercules will recoup their one dollar expenditure, but the city itself doesn’t mention a price.)
Unfortunately, that job is a tiny bit more difficult now, since they cut the old place in half while moving it, and it’s been sitting in two pieces ever since.
For the record, Tucker has visited the home before and says that the house is actually “in really good shape” all things considered, so make of that what you will.
- Historic Home For Removal [Hercules]
- Hercules Seeks Takers For Historic Home [East Bay Times]
- The Case of the One Dollar Home No One Wanted [Realtor]
- Powder Works Clubhouse [Patch]