One of Denver’s most posh neighborhoods has been split by plans to demolish a home and an effort to save it — using a landmark preservation ordinance — that City Councilman Charlie Brown describes as “real estate terrorism.”

The conflict began this summer when Gary Yourtz paid $1.1 million for a house in the Belcaro neighborhood and pulled a demolition permit, planning to build his dream house at 825 S. Adams St.

His plans were stalled when a preservationist and a neighbor used a provision of a city law enacted four years ago to file an eleventh-hour landmark designation application for the home.

The house is scheduled to be razed Jan. 15, but Yourtz says it cost him $18,000 to preserve that right — a battle that Brown says Yourtz should not have had to fight.

“This is almost un-American to me,” Brown said. “I don’t think any property owner in Denver would appreciate what happened to Gary Yourtz and his family.”

These kinds of clashes have occurred for years in Denver and communities across the West, as midcentury Modern-style homes are torn down to make way for newer buildings, said James Hewat, historic preservation planner for the city of Boulder.

“The challenge is to find a balance between private-property rights and the public benefits,” Hewat said. “I don’t think anyone enjoys the notion of designating the property over the owner’s objection.”

Denver preservation groups are contemplating a survey of every home and primary structure in the city to determine each one’s historic significance.

The inventory could be used to give real estate agents and potential homebuyers information about the properties.

In 2006, the Denver City Council attempted to calm emotions — and put an end to surprise homesite scrape-offs that happened often during the heady real estate boom — by passing an ordinance that required neighbors be notified and allowed to comment when demolition of a potentially significant building was proposed.

“The whole purpose of the ordinance was to create a conversation,” said Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, who was its sponsor. “The little I know about (the Belcaro property) is it has generated quite a conversation. And it doesn’t seem like it was a civil conversation.”

Preservationists say the 3,331-square-foot Wallbank/ Parker House, built in 1958, is a “high-quality representation of midcentury residential architecture.”

The home was designed by architects Tician Papachristou and Daniel Havekost and is described in the landmark application as an “original example of a Usonian ranch house,” a style most frequently associated with Frank Lloyd Wright.

But Yourtz was simply looking for property in the neighborhood where he wanted to live, close to friends and to downtown. After buying the home, Yourtz immediately applied for the demolition permit and hired an architect to design a $2 million, 3,700-square- foot, three-bedroom home.

“I want to be carried out of that house in a pine box,” Yourtz said.

Then, he said, he was blindsided.

Drive-by advocate

Denver’s Landmark Preservation Commission reviews demolition permits to determine whether a property has designation potential based on historical, architectural or geographic significance.

The commission ruled Yourtz’s home did have the potential, which gave the public 21 days to petition for landmark designation.

That’s when Mitch Cowley spoke up.

The Arapahoe County resident had long admired the house for its midcentury design. He would often drive friends by it, pointing out its lines and discussing its history.

“We asked the owner to pull the demolition permit,” Cowley said.

Yourtz refused but was open to discussion.

Cowley and Belcaro Park resident Susan Livingston continued discussions with Yourtz until the deadline on the 21st day.

Forty-five minutes before the deadline, Cowley and Livingston paid $250 and filed a landmark designation application.

The application began a process that ultimately could have taken the matter before the City Council for a vote.

Yourtz fought the “hostile application,” hiring high-powered attorneys, speaking to Councilman Brown, joining the Belcaro homeowners association and reaching out to his new neighbors.

Cowley asked Yourtz to sell the home or at least preserve the facade.

Yourtz said no and learned that preserving the existing house would cost up to $1.3 million.

Neighbors wrote in support of Yourtz, and they begged Cowley to withdraw his application. He did, the night before a public hearing.

“I was just trying to draw a line in the sand because this has been going on too long,” Cowley said. “Just because someone owns something doesn’t give them the ultimate right. They are removing homes of substance and replacing them with no substance.”

Yourtz said he hopes to be in his new ranch-style home in 2012.

“A check and balance”

Yourtz, 66, a philanthropist and retired businessman, said the entire experience was expensive and stressful.

“We came here with the best intentions, but the last 60 days were horrible,” he said. “To come into a community and have an outsider do this to you, it’s a complete violation of your property rights.”

Denver has 50 historic districts and 330 individually landmarked structures.

This year, the city has received applications to consider historic designation of two districts and three individual properties — two of which were “hostile applications” and eventually withdrawn.

“The ordinance is a check and balance,” said Assistant City Attorney Kerry Buckey. “Sometimes it does good work. Sometimes it’s a pain in the neck.

“You have property-rights people on one side saying, ‘It’s my house. I should be able to do what I want,’ ” Buckey said. “On the other side you have the general history of Denver. Some of these structures, in a way, are owned by the whole city.”

Yourtz said the ordinance shouldn’t be used to hold property hostage.

“This is almost a loophole in the law,” Yourtz said. “It wasn’t intended to do this.”

Eighty percent of Denver’s estimated 175,000 primary structures are at least 30 years old and 65 percent are at least 50 years old, said Alice Gilbertson, director of preservation advocacy for Historic Denver Inc. The group is investigating what it would take to do a survey of the city’s structures to determine their historic value, she said.

Councilman Brown said he will look into possibly changing the demolition ordinance that he voted for in 2006.

“This has divided the neighborhood,” he said. “There are people who are really upset that this was allowed to happen. I am going to be looking at this ordinance.”

Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com