Since 1992, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation has maintained a Most Endangered Historic Properties List in our state. The list not only brings attention to threatened buildings, sites and places but it has resulted in numerous success stories.
At a press conference in Seattle on May 26, Washington Trust announced its 2009 Most Endangered Historic Properties List. The event was part of the Trust’s Preservation Month activities. Coupeville’s Libbey House was on the list, along with a dozen others. Here is the official description of Libbey House by the Trust:
In many ways the Town of Coupeville and Ebey’s Landing Historic Reserve are a historic preservationist;s paradise. As a participant in the state’s Certified Local Government program, Coupeville promotes preservation through its local register of historic places and encourages property owners to utilize existing preservation incentives. Ebey’s Landing provides a unique model whereby private and municipal entities partner with the National Park Service with the mutual goal of preserving and providing stewardship for a truly spectacular collection of cultural resources encompassing both the natural and the built environment. It seems odd, then, that one of the area’s most significant historic resources is threatened with demolition.
Constructed in 1870, the Libbey House is associated with early Euro-American settlement in the Pacific Northwest. The builder, John Alexander, was a member of the family that co-founded Coupeville. In 1871, just a year after construction, the house was sold to Joseph Libbey, a member of a prominent pioneer family in Central Whidbey Island. Architecturally, the house as constructed can be classified as Carpenter Gothic as it features Gothic inspired barge boards, finials and bracketing. It is listed as a Class I Historic Structure on the Town of Coupeville’ss Historic Register and is also a contributing structure of the Central Whidbey National Register Historic District, located within Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve.
The Threat: Desiring to construct a new, larger house on the site, the current owner filed an application to demolish the historic Libbey House in March 2009. Given the significance of the resource, the Town of Coupeville is requiring that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be prepared and has invoked a mandatory two-year waiting period required whenever demolition is proposed for a Class I historic structure. Despite this, the concern is that the owners will continue on the path towards demolition.