Eyesore of the week

Owner: Bonnie Laux

Taxpayer: Bonnie Laux

Assessed: $23,900

Owner says: Could not be reached for comment

Architecture critic Amanda Harrell-Seyburn says: At one time, the weathered house at 420 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. was quite a handsome dwelling in the tradition of the early American farmhouse style. Although time and neglect have taken their toll, the traditional structure features standard elements characteristic of the farmhouse style: a two-story wood frame construction with gables to add light, a steeply pitched roof and a porch. A simple shed roof dormer, clearly a later addition, wisely oriented to the south adds light to the upper story. To learn more from Harrell-Seyburn, see this story at www.LansingCityPulse.com

The house at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and Genesee Street has a faded paint job, a cement stoop accented with dead shrubbery, a boarded-up backside, stretches of dying grass on either side and, upon peering inside, an interior that is still furnished.

The house was red tagged by the city of Lansing on March 25 . While the owner could not be reached, city code compliance officer Craig Whitford said getting anything done to this property could take up to nine months.