MUNCIE — A church says it can no longer afford to keep the “flamboyant and ostentatious” Alva Kitselman House, aka the Hazelwood estate, from deteriorating.
Hazelwood Christian Church, 1400 W. University Ave., recently was quoted a price of $150,000 to demolish the 31-room mansion but says it can’t afford that, either.
“Obviously, $150,000 to tear it down is clear out of our reach,” Bill Ritchie, chairman of the church’s board of trustees, told The Star Press. “We would hate to see it torn down.”
Construction of the brick house, which includes a ballroom, bay windows, French doors, balconies, window seats, oak woodwork, a three-story spiral stair and a massive front porch with Ionic columns, started in 1913 and was completed 100 years ago this year.
“It’s basically a money pit,” Ritchie said. “We keep pouring money into it and just reached the point where we can’t afford to put any more money into it. In the last 10 years, we’ve spent in the neighborhood of $300,000 on this property.”
The church was built on the eight-acre site in the 1950s. The church’s use of the mansion includes office and classroom space.
“We’d love to see somebody, an organization of some kind, say they would be willing to sponsor that building, help maintain it as a historical property, to keep it from deteriorating any more than it is,” Ritchie said. “We would consider selling the parking lot and giving somebody the house.”