An old photo at the Eagle Point Historical Museum shows the icehouse covered in ivy. The structure was built in 1873. 

An old stone icehouse across from the historic Butte Creek Mill could soon be demolished.

Eagle Point officials have mandated that the dilapidated structure be torn down as soon as possible, but supporters of the tiny building say its historical value makes it worth saving.

Bob Russell, one-time owner of the Butte Creek Mill, said he wants to save the icehouse for the sake of history. Russell purchased the mill in 2004 and acquired the icehouse 15 years ago. Russell deeded both the mill and icehouse property to the nonprofit Butte Creek Mill Foundation after a fire destroyed the mill on Christmas Day in 2015.

The icehouse, built in the 1870s, was originally part of the George Brown and Son Cash Store. The store burned down around 1910, leaving the little icehouse to serve as a storage space for another four decades. Russell said he had planned to preserve the building, possibly for use as office space or an interpretive display for visitors to the mill.

“I was worried about it, so I bought it from the guy who lives next door. I had a few people with ideas for things they could do with it. One lady wanted to do an olive oil business,” Russell said.

“When I first donated everything to the foundation, they were all excited about jumping right on it, restoring it and having an office in there. Everybody just loves the icehouse. Now, all of a sudden, there’s this sense or urgency to tear it down.”

Russell said he and the Butte Creek Mill Foundation got word March 16 that city officials will soon assess fines of up to $500 a day if the icehouse isn’t demolished. City officials did not return calls Friday to the Rogue Valley Times.

The building is surrounded by cyclone fence. One wall of the building collapsed last year and sits inside the fence. Three sides are still standing, but a roof panel blew off in a recent storm, accelerating damage to the structure.

Russell said he was “absolutely heartbroken” to hear that the city had ordered the icehouse demolished.

“We had an expert stone mason out of Eugene assess the building. He felt that he could deconstruct and rebuild it for around $50,000 a couple years ago. The mill foundation just did not have the money. They’re still fundraising to finish the mill, so this wasn’t at the top of the priority list at the time,” he added.

Russell said the mill foundation offered to sell the building for $1 to the city, but Eagle Point City Council voted against it.

Jay O’Neil, board chair for the Butte Creek Mill Foundation, said he had exhausted all possible avenues to save the building. With about $500,000 to $700,000 still needed for full restoration of the mill, the board was “not in a financial position” to cover the icehouse restoration, he said.

O’Neil worried restoration might not be possible because some of the stones are starting to crumble.

“We’re at the critical juncture where nobody can tell us how soon it could collapse. It could be standing a year from now, but we’ve reached the tipping point where the deterioration process could begin to accelerate. We have reached out to that mason from two years ago, and he has not responded to us. I don’t think he’s excited to come back and deal with it,” said O’Neil.

“I know Bob would like to see it rebuilt, and I don’t blame him. It’s not our desire to tear down this historic icehouse — it’s a wonderful building — but Bob hasn’t been involved with the construction discussions and engineering discussions where they say you guys have a terribly dangerous building sitting there and we cannot put people in there to even try to fix it.”

Historical preservationist George Kramer voiced frustration at the city’s urgency to see the icehouse demolished. Kramer said the icehouse is one of the few remaining examples of its type of construction.

“I’m sorry to hear that the city feels like demolition is necessary,” Kramer said Friday. “The icehouse is no more dangerous now than it was five years ago. The building is fenced off. Nobody can be injured.”

Kramer urged the city to “just take a breath.”

“I would love to know what changed that makes this suddenly an emergency. This is a structure that, doing nothing other than standing there, adds to the history of Eagle Point, which doesn’t have very many 19th-century buildings. … The city of Eagle Point is going to regret tearing it down,” Kramer said.