Editorial: Too late?

The proposed destruction of the 1920s-era villa La Ronda in Lower Merion sends a clear message to other townships with architectural treasures:

If you want to keep them around, start preservation efforts now.

A new - and unidentified - owner of the mansion built for the Foerderer family in 1929 is seeking approval to raze the 14,000-square-foot villa and replace it with a 10,000-square-foot single-family house. One reason: the high cost it would take to renovate and maintain La Ronda. But the new owner should have noticed that during his walk-through with the real-estate agent.

Local preservationists are rightly appalled. La Ronda was the last commission of famed South Florida architect Addison Mizner, and is his only surviving work north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Despite its pedigree, the mansion was never listed in the historic classification that would have allowed township commissioners to save it. Efforts are being made to reclassify the site. The Building and Planning Committee of the Board of Commissioners has postponed a vote until June 3.

But La Ronda's future appears bleak. In this economy, it's unlikely another buyer will appear. Sadly, just as a 1920s downturn wrecked Mizner's Florida development dreams, this recession may help do in his Bryn Mawr treasure.