BRIDGEPORT — It was built in 1891 for the president of the Acme Shear Co.

But for the better part of three decades, the wood-framed house at 291-293 Harriet St. has seemed more like a haunted house among neat, pastel multifamily houses than the former home of a millionaire.

And last week it reached its expiration date.

“The city does its best to try to maintain and preserve buildings of historical significance like this property; unfortunately, sometimes it is difficult to save them,” said Don Eversley, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Economic Development. “The cost to repair the property had reached the point to where it could not be made back either through owner or renters’ market.”

The city recently hired Ocean Trace Demolition, of Watertown, to take down the historic home.

“I was actually looking forward to seeing them fix it up,” said Curtis Vereen, who has lived across the street from the East Side home for 10 years. “I’d rather see a family come in and make the neighborhood nicer.”

Two houses down, Donise Loper said she also would have liked to have seen the house renovated but demolition is a better option than no action at all.

“There was always garbage all over,” she said, standing in her front yard with her two young children. “Pieces of the house were falling all over.”

City Historian Mary Witkowski learned the house would be taken down just last week.

“It’s a shame,” she said. “It hasn’t been given any TLC. It’s too bad it was neglected and left to its own demise.”

With notice, Witkowski said she could have requested a hold on the city’s action because of the house’s historic nature. That would have allowed someone to step forward and offer to fix the property.

Last week, a for-sale sign hung on a boarded-up window of the former Dwight Wheeler House. Brothers Dwight and David C. Wheeler bought the Acme Shear Co. in Bridgeport in 1883.

In the late 1970s, the wood-framed house’s gable roof and Queen Anne-style architecture led to its inclusion in the East Bridgeport Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Shortly after it was placed on the national register, though, most of its decorative siding was gone, and the house — its gable roof fire-damaged — has since sat as an empty shell and neighborhood dumping ground. It was placed on the city’s condemnation list in 1993.

Waiting for someone to save the house only served to bring down the neighborhood, said Paul Barnum, president of the East Side Neighborhood Revitalization Zone.

“I’m not against saving historic houses, but if you can’t save them, then take them down,” he said. “If they would have torn it down 20 years ago, they could have built a nice duplex on it and been collecting taxes.”

Ruben Vega, who lives two doors down, said he would like to see a new Habitat for Humanity home on the site. A 15-year resident of the neighborhood, he said he couldn’t believe the house would finally be taken down.

“If they take it down, we should have a party,” he said in Spanish.