By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Lebanon Conservancy Foundation is refurbishing the 200 year old building that was badly damaged in a fire two years ago. (Michael Snyder photo)

LEBANON - Charred beams and smoke-covered doorways are eerie reminders of the 1999 fire that nearly destroyed this historic city's oldest building.

Today, the blackened wood lies next to new construction materials that are part of an effort to preserve the Nixon-Brant House at 27 N. Mechanic St.

That restoration, started in 2001 by the city and nonprofit Lebanon Conservancy Foundation, is nearing completion.

Electrical and plumbing work is well under way, and the drywall should go up shortly after that work is finished.

The Federal-style building will house exhibits and offices for the conservancy foundation, which expects to have its first meeting in the building this fall.

"We wanted to leave as much of the historic house as possible," foundation president Gerald Miller said Monday as he walked through the house. "I don't think we'll ever be complete. It'll be an ongoing project."

Throughout the house are hints of history: an elliptic fanlight above the front door; a painted-over, cherry wood stair banister.

The building was built about 1808 as a four-room, two-story home, owned originally by Samuel Nixon, Warren County's third treasurer.

The back of the building was added on to later, and eventually split into several apartments.

At one time, part of the building was rented out as a barbershop, says Bill McGurn, a conservancy foundation member.

In late 1999, a fire tore through part of the building, which exposed much of one corner to the elements.

"It stood for two years without a roof," McGurn said.

"We were growing weeds and grass and even a tree in here."

A former city councilman bought the property in 2000, intending to raze it and expand a parking lot.

But the conservancy foundation convinced the city to take the property through eminent domain so it could be restored.

The conservancy foundation pitched in $100,000 toward the $230,000 purchase price, and has a 99-year lease on the facility.

Two years later, new window frames in the building hold the original glass panels.

Inside walls should be done within months, though the paint colors are not final.

Miller says the conservancy foundation is already getting offerings of donated furniture and other items.

The conservancy foundation also plans to have a spacious exhibit room for educational displays.

"We are preaching and teaching preservation at the same time," McGurn said.

"And that might be the most important part of this restoration."

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E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com