Historic Kirby Mansion demolition sparks outrage

Tonight, I'm Anthony Antoine. We start tonight with a fight to save what's left of Houston's historic Kirby Mansion, and it's bringing people and neighbors together, preservationist advocates as well as descendants of the man who once lived there. Part of the Midtown Mansion was torn down on Friday before the city stopped demolition over a missing permit. Fox 26's Leslie Della Spoor live for us in Midtown with those concerns. Leslie. That's right, Anthony, so here's the deal for neighbors and even family members, descendants. The Kirby family who were here today that I spoke to, they say seeing the mansion in this state, I'm gonna step out so you can see it, halfway demolished is just Heartbreaking in the candlelight vigil and rally that was held today showing what the home means to them and they're pushing to protect more of Houston's history. Now Houston Public Works confirms demolition began Friday without the required permit. Inspectors stopped the work and issued a citation. Now Preservation Houston says roughly half of the mansion has already been torn down and a request to discuss saving or reusing the building went unanswered. Now Mr. McKinney with Mr. McKinney's Historic Houston organized today's candlelight vigil and rally from 4 to 6. And he wanted people to come together to honor the mansion and build support for protecting historic places across Houston. Now, organizers asked people to wear red and white with the goal of joining hands around the property where the sidewalk's allowed and show a love for Houston's history and also this mansion. Now, McKinney says he supports development but believes the owner could have used the surrounding land for business while preserving the historic mansion. Now neighbor Jason Fuller says he saw the demolition on Friday after the city stopped work order. And intervened before police arrived. And John Henry Kirby's great-great-grandsons, Kirby and Stuart Black, also came today. And they say seeing the damage to their family's former home is just devastating. My grandmother grew up in this house. She was born in this house. She was married in this house. And there was a natatorium out here. This used to be on 200 acres. And so downtown was at Allen's Landing. I'm pro-business, I'm pro-development. I want people to do this, but I want them to do it responsibly. Midtown residents have told us as they walk their dogs in this neighborhood with their jaws dropping. What happened to the mansion? We heard it was going to be a possible gas station. And they say the last thing Midtown needs is another gas station. It's sad. I think that they could have salvaged a lot of the interior architectural details. They could have relocated the part of the facade over to Sam Houston Park, Heritage Society, and really made it an interesting destination for people for Houstonians to go back and see what once was here. It's more than our family. It's sentimental to history. It's Houston history right here, it's Houston history and I think the city of Houston is sentimental to its history. Now the city does say that the mansion is not designated as a Houston landmark or protected landmark at this time. But if you take a look at it again, if you know Houston, and you've come in and out of Midtown or even to downtown, you've seen this big red house here on the corner. So we are gonna stay on top of this and keep you updated on the latest of what's honestly left of the Kirby Mansion, back to you.