Kildare-Mccormick House (Huntsville, Madison, Steele: loan, deed, tax)

[FiveDime]

God Almighty...DROP IT. It's private property. Deal with that.

[Nlambert]

I dont think anyone is arguing that it's in the National Registry. The point being made is that it is still a PRIVATE residence so a little respect would be in order. Crazy owners or not, folks like the girls in the Youtube video only work to make the situation exponentially worse. I hope their parents took disciplinary actions against the kids for that.

I can see both sides here. Yes, the owners have a right to privacy the same as the rest of us and the public needs to respect their right to privacy. But.... I believe that right only extends to the street. If someone is standing in a public right of way taking a picture of the house the owners should respect that. If the person taking pictures begins to harrass the homeowner by way of honking horns, throwing items, trespassing on the property itself then the homeowner should call the police.

I was surprised to see so many 1 post wonders in this thread as I just made it through all 22 pages. I've driven by a few times over the years with my wife and we've never had any issue. We really don't stop in front of the house though, but instead just drive on by.

[Nlambert]

To add a little to this, in South Alabama there are quite a few plantation homes still standing. Growing up we found one as teens that had some cool history behind it. Naturally the caretakers didn't want folks trespassing so that made it sound a lot more fun.

We would sneak out to the house at night (caretakers lived about a mile away but could see the house from their front window). The doors and windows on the first floor were boarded up but we found the kitchen around back was not and the door unlocked. It was overgrown back there so difficult to see. We would sneak in at night and wander around the house. You could tell folks had been taking care of it. As word spread the house started getting more frequent visits from teens having parties and it started to look rough. Eventually the caretakers called the sheriffs department and some kids got arrested. Not long after, it burned to the ground.

I believe some of the kids who got arrested did it. The point being that it doesn't take much for something to start escalating. That was in the middle of nowhere (literally) so it could be that the owners are trying to fend off people to keep the onlookers from escalating. Horrible way to go about it, but I digress.

[Nlambert]

Another troll perhaps?

[RatSnake]

I reported a troll and my message gets deleted?

[FayettevilletoHuntsville]

Originally Posted by Aicey

From what I understand the owners tried to fence it off COMPLETELY but went overboard and Huntsville has since stopped the building of the fence unless it is on their property but the owners don't even want the fence on their OWN property?? If I was wanting something protected with a fence and was told the fence couldn't be on an easement but instead on my own property, you best believe it would be on my property to secure it!

The Huntsville Times recently had an article on the front page titled "Fence Fight" about the fence situation at the Kildare-McCormick house which is located at the corner of Oakwood Avenue and Meridian Street in Northeast Huntsville.

Here is the online article from al.com about the fence situation at the Kildare-McCormick property. This article was published on April 24, 2014:

How high is too high? Fence dispute clouds future of historic, 40-room Kildare mansion in Huntsville | AL.com

There was also a more recent al.com article published on May 20, 2014 with a possible solution to the "fence fight" at the Kildare-McCormick property:

Mending fences? Owner of Huntsville's historic Kildare House offers to add city to insurance policy | AL.com

I am not sure I would consider what is mentioned in the second article as a solution though because there is still potential for a dangerous incident to happen with a fence that high. It could still fall over and cause injury.

[RatSnake]

Mr Wright said - he ---"bought the mansion in 2007 with the goal of turning it into a boutique hotel and rental space for weddings and other special occasions"

Sad - that because of how he has handled this whole thing - it has attracted so much negative attention - so much that it is now turning into a fort.

[EDI Expert]

I just read the entire thread. I never knew what was all going on with this property. Shame

[LCTMadison]

Well, I guess this is one way to stop people from gawking at your house......


Kildare Mansion to be gutted and the pieces sold - WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL

[lindy112]

They were already doing it anyway. They've been selling bits and pieces of the house on Craigslist for years. Maybe they're hoping a historical house lover will swoop in and offer them big $ for the house in order to save it.