A Tale of Two Shrines

Nobody wanted the house at 649 Union Avenue in Grand Rapids. The Veterans Administration, which received title to the property in 1972, had reduced its original asking price from $12,500 to $5,500 last month. Still no sale. One local speculator offered a dismaying $100. Then, not long ago, the VA and the rest of the nation learned that President Ford had lived in the house from 1923 to 1930, years that included his football-hero days at nearby South High.

Suddenly the VA was deluged with offers, despite the fact that in recent years the three-story house has become a victim of urban neglect, with smashed windows, torn screens, cans and bottles littering the front lawn. With Ford's succession to office, the Veterans Administration has decided to turn away all the new offers and take the home off the market "for the foreseeable future." It will eventually sell it only to a person or organization willing to preserve it as a national historic landmark.

Meanwhile, the Cerritos, Calif., home occupied by Pat Nixon from 1914 to 1930 was being accorded far different treatment. Last week, two days after Richard Nixon had resigned the presidency, an arsonist poured a flammable liquid on the outside walls of one room (which was being used as a community recreation center) and set a torch to it. A passing motorist spotted the flames and phoned Los Angeles County fire men, who quickly extinguished the blaze before major damage could be done. Police have almost no clues about who might have set the fire. Henceforth the modest home of the former First Lady will be protected by a 24-hour armed guard.

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