For the second time in six months, the Warren County Board of Supervisors was rebuffed in its attempts to raze two buildings it owns on Adams Street.

Vicksburg’s Board of Architectural Review Tuesday voted 5-0 to deny the county’s request to demolish the buildings at 1015 and 1019 Adams St., which are in the county’s historic district.

“I don’t see that we have any choice,” board member Harry Sharp said. “We’re following our ordinance. The ordinance hasn’t been changed. Maybe we need to look at the ordinance and find a way (in the future) to grant your request, but we have no means to do that under the current ordinance.”

The board in April denied the application, putting a five-month stay on the application. No stay was included in its decision Tuesday. Warren County Board of supervisors Attorney Marcie Southerland said the county would appeal the decision to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

Known as the “old Verhine building,” the house at 1015 Adams St. was built in the 1890s and was home to Verhine & Verhine law firm from 1991 to 2002, according to city directories.

The county’s former justice court building at 1019 Adams St. was completed in the 1870s as a house and was once the law office of John Prewitt before he became a circuit judge.

Both buildings are in the city’s Grove Street- Jackson Street National Register Historic District and protected under the city’s historic preservation ordinance, but both have been allowed to deteriorate. Southerland called the condition of both buildings deplorable. The county has not released any information on its plans for the property.

According to a letter from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Verhine building is a contributing resource to the National Historic Register District and eligible for designation as a Mississippi Landmark. Archives and History lists the old justice court building as a non-contributing resource to the same national district.

Board chairman Toni Lanford-Ferguson, however, said the building is linked to the local historic district.

“Both are considered contributors in the local (historic) district,” she said.

The board’s decision marked the fourth time in 10 years that it debated a county request to raze the buildings. In 2004 and 2005, the county sought to raze the buildings. Both times, the board put a 150-day stay on each request, but the county never took action.

After the board’s decision in April, the county appealed to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, which granted a 60-day extension in August. When the board granted the extension, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. indicated he would fight the demolition, adding, “If they get the blessings to demolish the buildings, they’re going to have to go through a court of law.”

The county bought the building in 1984, to be home to its three justice court districts. The judges were moved to 921 Farmer St. in 2002, and the building essentially became a storage bin.

County buildings and grounds director Chuck Thornton said the county bought the Verhine building about 2002 for about $46,000, adding it was in a dilapidated state when the county bought it. Neither he nor Southerland knew how much the county paid for the old justice court building.

He said the Verhine building was in disrepair when the county bought it, and the old justice court building was vacated in 2002 when it was considered a safety hazard.

“It moved,” he said. “It was coming apart, and the only thing holding it together was the brick.”

Board of Supervisors President Bill Lauderdale said in July the county’s plan for the buildings has always been to demolish them.

He said the county bought the buildings in anticipation of possible expansion of county government. “Property is hard to come by, so when we found two pieces of property adjacent to the courthouse, we bought them,” he said.