A local investor has signed a purchase agreement to acquire the 62-year-old Crawford Home—an architecturally significant home on Country Club Drive in Westdale that exemplifies midcentury modern design—from the local development company that had been planning to demolish it and subdivide the 1.5-acre lot on which it sits.
The deal between the investor, who wishes to remain anonymous for now, and the development group, Magnolia Home Building and Renovation, was finalized late on the night of April 18, according to Preserve Louisiana Executive Director Fairleigh Jackson.
The sale is expected to close before May 8, she says.
No additional details about the deal are available. But if it goes through as planned, the sale will mark a major victory for the preservation community, which has been trying for weeks to save the house from the wrecking ball.
“Preserve Louisiana is so grateful and we are working with the purchaser on next steps for protecting the home moving forward,” Jackson says.
The 4,000-square-foot home is significant both because of who designed it—renowned architect Wahl Snyder, and who lived there—local architect Hamilton Crawford, who built thousands of tract houses throughout the region during the booming post-war years. It has been featured in national publications for its classic, midcentury modern features, but was never registered as a local or federal historic landmark.
Earlier this spring, the home’s owners sold it to developer Jason Laubscher and his wife, after Laubscher approached them and told them it was his lifelong dream to live in the house and raise his family there.
After acquiring the home for $800,0000, however, Laubscher sold the house for the same price to the development company he co-owns with Michael Doiron. Earlier this month, that company filed for a demolition permit.
It is unclear whether the purchase agreement contains a covenant that will protect the house between now and the time the sale closes. It is also unknown whether Magnolia has asked the city to rescind its demolition permit request.
A call to Doiron seeking comment was not returned in time for this morning’s publication.
