CHAPEL HILL - The owner of a 97-year-old home built by a former UNC-Chapel Hill president wants to demolish the historic structure.

Sherman Richardson wants town permission to tear down the house at 115 Battle Lane, which has fallen into disrepair, neighbors say. Edward Kidder Graham co-founded the Order of the Golden Fleece honor society in addition to serving as university president from 1914 to 1918.

The town's Historic District Commission must approve the demolition. It will consider the proposal at a meeting May 11.

Preservationists used the house to bolster their case for a tougher town ordinance, approved this year, that gives the government authority to compel owners of historic properties to maintain them.