CINCINNATI -- A local organization is trying to save the former home of a civil rights leader from demolition.
Samir Kulkarni, owner of 2530 May St., has permits to demolish the 132-year-old home. It was once occupied by the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil rights leader who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr., according to Danny Klingler, executive director of OTR A.D.O.P.T.
Klingler said OTR A.D.O.P.T., a nonprofit that works to revitalize historical buildings in Cincinnati, would be willing to purchase the home and restore it so it stands for future generations.
“I think a civil rights hero like that, in another city, we’d be protecting the buildings, we’d protect the monuments,” Klingler said. “There ought to be some kind of consideration and the public ought to know about it. Because when it’s gone, it’s gone.”
Kulkarni said he and his company own a number of different properties in Walnut Hills, and some of the buildings are being renovated and repurposed. He said he'd love to save the May Street house; however, the property simply has too many problems to be saved, he said.
Klingler said he recognizes the owner’s rights to have the building demolished -- as it is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- but he said he hopes the owner considers selling the home so it can be preserved. OTR A.D.O.P.T. has saved 52 homes, mostly in Over-the-Rhine, from disrepair.
